Of Blades And Skates
by Serling
Summary: A girl with something against the game our favourite feathered heroes love and she's not saying why. See how the Ducks try to help her and get her to like the wonderful game of Ice Hockey once again. Comments are always welcome. :
1. Chapter 1

.Chapter one.

The ding of the bell at the door to the comic shop announced the entrance of a new customer.

Nosedive looked around the store while the rest of the ducks, who had reluctantly agreed to come with, continued on their way in. Everything was the same right up until he reached the desk. Instead of spying Thrash and Mookie taking it easy back there, there was a girl he had never seen before. Raising an eyebrow, he walked up to her.

"Um, hey," he said gently, so as not to startle her from her work.

She flinched out of her thoughts and looked around for her addresser. Eventually her eyes landed on the young drake.

"Oh. Hi, uh 'Nosedive' is it?" she asked, setting down her clipboard and adjusting her glasses to sit properly on her nose before holding a hand out for Nosedive to shake.

"Yeah," 'Dive said, almost in a chuckle.

"Thrash and Mookie said you'd be coming in at some point," she continued, releasing his hand.

"Did they?"

"Yeah. They said you're quite a regular customer."

Nosedive just nodded at the statement before asking, "Where _are_ Thrash and Mook?"

"They're out at some convention or something in the next state. They'll be back by Friday," the girl replied.

"Right."

"Yeah. Uh, I'm sure you know your way around the shop by now. There's some new comics in the 'Just In' section if you would like to have a look."

"Okay. Thanks, uh… didn't-get-ya-name."

"Oh! Sorry. I'm Agnus. Aggie for short."

Nosedive nodded, smiled and gave her a salute-cum-wave before heading off towards the 'Just In' section.

Just as he headed off and Agnus went back to what she had been doing previously, the bell rang again. She looked up and cringed at what had just walked in.

"Same old, same old," Duke said, putting a comic back onto the shelf.

"Chuck, I told you, I've got work to do," came Aggie's slightly distressed voice from the front desk.

The Ducks looked up from their browsing to see what was going on.

'Chuck', a decently sized hockey player, had Agnus pinned in a corner behind the checkout desk.

"Aww, c'mon baby, that's what you say every time I see you," Chuck said, eyes half closed in an almost dreamy way.

"That's because it's usually the truth."

"You sayin' you've been lyin' to me? I'm hurt, Darlin'. But… you know, there is _something_ that could _heal_ this wound you've inflicted…"

Duke sighed as he watched the scene before him. "Some guys just don't know how ta treat a lady," he said, walking over to where the two were. He hopped over the desk and gripped Chuck's shoulder. Chuck looked back at him.

"Alright, Romeo. Let the lady go," he said.

"Hey. Mind your own business, Duck. This is a matter between me and my girl," Chuck said, shrugging Duke's hand off of his shoulder.

Just then Duke got a brilliant idea and a sly glint appeared in his eye.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know. Sweetheart, you shoulda described him better ta me," Duke said, looking at Aggie.

"What?" Chuck asked, while Aggie just looked at Duke a bit puzzled.

"You told me about your beau, but…," Duke moved closer to Aggie, shouldering Chuck out of the way, "You never told me that it was _this_ bad. Heh, no wonder you came ta me." Duke put an arm around Aggie's shoulders, while she just blinked up at him like he was crazy, but a quick and reassuring smile from him quickly brought her up to speed.

"Oh! Yes. Well, I… uh…," she started, but acting wasn't her strong point.

"Shhh," Duke said soothingly but still making a big deal of it. He put a finger to her lips to silence her. "It's okay," he said in a bit of a whisper before continuing normally, "Maybe it's time we 'came out of the closet', so ta speak, about us. Hmm?"

Aggie just smiled at him, she couldn't believe how good he was at this.

Duke smiled back at her and then turned to face Chuck again.

"No hard feelings, right? The best guy won out in the end," he said, holding a hand out for Chuck to shake.

"So _this_ is what you've been up to when you said you're 'workin''?" Chuck asked angrily, glaring at Aggie.

Suddenly Aggie got a surge of bravery. She stood up as straight as she could, set her shoulders back, met Chuck's glare and said, "So what if he is? Look, just beat it, Chuck. There is a 'Right of Admission Reserved' sign outside."

"Oh, I'll beat it all right. Right after a beat your duck-friend here into pâté," Chuck replied. He lunged at Duke with a roar.

Duke shoved Aggie to the side before moving out of the way of the attack himself. He grabbed hold of Chuck's shirt at the back, lifted him and began to swing him around and around. Aggie slipped down the wall she was against to avoid being hit.

"Let's take this outside so that the lady doesn't have ta deal with the mess afterwards," Duke said, releasing Chuck and sending him flying through the door of the comic shop.

"Stay down, stay low. I'll be back in a moment," he said seriously, looking at Aggie.

She just nodded.

He nodded back to her before jumping over the desk and heading out of the shop to catch up with a very ticked and dazed Chuck.

The other Ducks walked over to the checkout desk to watch the scene outside. Aggie watched their expressions to see how things were going.

At every cringe she wasn't sure who or what they were cringing at, which was driving her mad, but she wasn't getting up until she knew it was okay. Finally, the Ducks smiled. She smiled too and sighed a silent sigh of relief as she heard the door to the shop opening gently and a pair of light footsteps coming closer.

"She okay?" the voice of her rescuer asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," Aggie said before the other Ducks could get a word in edgewise, rising to her feet as she spoke.

"No problem. How long you been involved with that sleazeball?"

"I've known Chuck for about… three months now. We met just after a hockey game actually. My friend had dragged me along to a match and… well, I _literally_ bumped into him and… well, let's just say that to be the object of someone's adoration isn't fun if you don't return their feelings."

"Oh yes. Very true."

"_You_ have experience in this?" Nosedive asked Duke, folding his arms across his chest.

"You bet," Duke replied.

"When?"

"Long time ago," Duke turned his attention to Aggie, "I understand how you feel, kid."

"Thanks. Nice to know that someone understands," Aggie smiled, hugging her clipboard to her chest.

Duke just smiled at her.

"I've never seen him on the ice before," Wildwing observed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh no, he's not an ice hockey player. He's a street hockey player," Aggie said.

"That would explain it," said Duke.

"Quite."

"You… inta street hockey?"

"No. I just went along with my friend who is hockey mad. No matter what it's on: air, street, ice, she loves it."

"Then what's with the skates?"

"Oh! I… I just like to skate is all." Aggie rubbed the back of her neck shyly.

Duke just nodded at the explanation.

"Uh, anyway. Thanks again, uh… what's your name?" Aggie asked.

"What? You don't know who _we_ are?" Nosedive asked.

"Well, if she ain't a hockey fan, 'Dive, how do you expect her to know?" Duke asked before turning back to Aggie and holding a hand out for her to take, "Name's Duke and you are?"

"Agnus. Aggie for short," she replied, shaking Duke's hand.

Just then the door to the shop opened again.

The Ducks and Aggie looked to see who had come in and weren't quite sure what to make of the newcomer. She was a girl about Aggie's age and she seemed to be dumbfounded, standing in the doorway with her mouth slightly open in a gape as she stared at the Ducks.

"Friend o' yours?" Duke asked, looking at Aggie out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah. Ducks, this is my hockey mad friend Shiga. Shiga,… I'm sure you know who they are," Aggie said, introducing them.

"Uh… Aggs… can we talk?" Shiga asked in a bit of a squeaky voice, still not completely recovered from her shock of walking into a store to find the local hockey heroes right in front of her.

"Sure. Uh, Duke, do you mind?"

"No. Not at all," Duke replied, oblivious to the fact that he was still holding her hand.

"Well then…" Aggie pulled her hand back a bit.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't realise that I…," Duke trailed off, quickly releasing Aggie's hand and then rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepishly.

Aggie just smiled at him as she began to make her way towards the back of the shop with her gob smacked friend in tow. Her green inline-skates quietly whirring over the floor as she glided along.

"Oh! Um, Nosedive, could you please keep an eye on the shop for a moment? I'm sure Thrash and Mook would trust you to do so," Aggie said, before she and Shiga disappeared into the back room.

"Sure thing, Girly Girl," Nosedive smiled.

Aggie gave him a grateful nod and then disappeared into the back room with her friend.

"And you guys didn't want to come," Nosedive said, jumping over the desk to sit at the chair behind it.

"Well, it's usually not this exciting," Wildwing said.

Meanwhile, in the back room, Aggie was withstanding the fangirl moment her friend was having.

"And do you even _know_ who you shook hands with?" she asked, eyes wide with enthusiasm.

"Uh, all I know is that his name's 'Duke'," Aggie replied.

"That's _Duke L'Orange_!"

"Okay."

"Oh come _on_, Aggs! Show _some_ enthusiasm! The Mighty Ducks are out there and… you're not even freaked out!"

"Look, Shi, you _know_ why I'm not. I… I don't like ice hockey. Not any more."

Shiga gave her friend a somewhat amused look before saying, "I think you still actually do and I believe I have Duke to thank for reigniting the spark."

"You do not. There is no spark. You know why I don't like ice hockey and… I don't want to have this discussion now. Okay? I've got a comic shop to run. If you want to talk to your hockey stars, be my guest. Just let me get back to work."

"Alright, alright. Who put a rock in your skates today?"

"Go. Before they leave."

Shiga didn't need any more prompting, she was out of the backroom and back at the Ducks' sides in a matter of seconds.

Agnus just stood for a moment in thought, remembering the events that had put her off ice hockey for life, but then shook her head. Living in the past was useless, what was done was done. She couldn't change it, but she could make sure nothing like it ever happened again. With that she turned and followed her friend's route at a more sedate pace.

When she opened the door to re-enter the shop, she couldn't help but smile at her friend. She was worse than a little kid with the number of questions she had for the Ducks. What was amazing though was that the Ducks had no problem answering with the same rapid fire speed her friend had in asking.

Aggie skated back to her position behind the desk and then said to the young duck that was currently occupying her chair, "Thanks for helping out, Nosedive."

"No problemo. I uh 'rescued' this before your friend here got a hold of your clipboard," Nosedive replied, holding a piece of paper out for Aggie to take.

"Oh, thanks. She would have scribbled all over this too."

Aggie took the paper and straightened out a dog-ear that had formed in its top right hand corner.

"I thought you weren't a fan of hockey," Nosedive said, leaning on the desk.

"I'm not," Aggie replied, still straightening the paper.

"Then… what's that?" Nosedive pointed to the unfinished image on the paper, it was the Mighty Ducks' team logo.

With a sigh, Aggie looked up at Nosedive, who was smiling smugly to himself. He looked like someone who had just uncovered a secret without even trying.

"To be honest with you, Nosedive. I kinda got bored and… seeing as the only channel the in-store TV has is the sports channel… and this _being_ Anaheim, the home town of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks…"

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah. I just drew what I had easy reference for."

Nosedive just nodded, his mood dampened.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Aggie said, noticing his slumped shoulders.

"Hey, no problem. Hockey just ain't everyone's thing on this planet," Nosedive said, perking up a bit.

"True."

"So what sport are you into?"

"None really. I just skate for fun."

Nosedive just nodded before asking, "Do you ice skate?"

"No!" Aggie replied a bit too quickly and a bit too sharply, earning her the attention of the rest of the Mighty Ducks and her friend. "I mean, ahem. No, I don't ice skate," she said trying to cover up her slight blunder.

"Why not?" Duke asked.

Aggie just shrugged and said, "I just don't."

Duke just nodded and left it at that, but he got the feeling that there was something more to this than what she was saying.

"Oh! Don't you guys have a game tonight?" Shiga asked, looking up at Wildwing for the answer.

"Yes, we do. We've actually got to get back to the Pond to do some last minute practice," he replied.

"Hey, why don't you two come watch? VIP pass and all, compliments of your friendly neighbourhood superheroes-cum-killer-ice-hockey-team," Nosedive said with one of his most charming smiles ever.

"Yeah. We'd appreciate the support," Duke said, looking directly at Aggie. He could see that all this talk of ice hockey was getting to her and he was hoping the reason for it would surface sooner or later.

"We will _so_ be there!" Shiga said, accepting a ticket from Grin.

"What about you, Girly Girl?" Nosedive asked, holding a ticket out for Aggie to take.

She looked at it as if it were a snake, beautiful but deadly. She forced a sweet smile up at Nosedive and gently pushed the ticket and his hand back towards him saying, "Thanks but no thanks, Nosedive,… I think I've met enough 'Chuck's to last me the rest of my life."

"You sure?"

Aggie just nodded and said, "Positive."

"Okay, but… in case you change your mind… there's gonna be one sittin' right here."

Nosedive placed the ticket down on the counter and put a paperweight on top of it.

"Nosedive, take it. It's just going to mean an empty seat. Give it to someone who will use it."

"I have a feeling you will. See ya 'round, Dudette."

With that Nosedive made his way out from behind the desk and towards the door before Aggie could argue further. The other Ducks followed his lead.

"See you guys tonight!" Shiga called from the door, watching them leave.

"You bet, Dudette!" Nosedive called back, walking backwards and cupping his hands around his beak to make his voice carry further.

Shiga waved to him and he waved back before turning back to face forward again. Shiga smiled at his antics, but then went back into the shop, closing the door behind her.

"So?" she asked Aggie.

"What?" Aggie asked, sorting her clean paper from her friend's scribbled notes on her clipboard.

"You _are_ coming right?"

Aggie just looked at her friend, she wasn't in the best of moods right now.

"Aggs, what happened to your dad… it ain't gonna happen to you if you go to watch a game of ice hockey," Shiga said.

"I don't want to support a brutish sport like that, Shiga. _Going_ to the game is supporting the sport."

"Not like you're paying for it. Nosedive and the Ducks invited us and supplied us with the tickets."

Aggie was silent as she re-clipped the clean paper back onto her clipboard.

"I don't get you. Really I don't. When we were young you were the best ice hockey player I knew. Now… ugh. You know if you were still in the game you could be making a mint instead of scraping together an existence like this."

Aggie looked at the ticket and then at her friend. Shiga smiled, this had to be a good sign. Aggie picked up the ticket and held it out to Shiga.

"You know anyone who wants a 'Mighty Ducks' ticket?" she asked.

Shiga's shoulders slumped and her mouth dropped open.


	2. Chapter 2

.Chapter two.

Final preparations were underway in the Ducks' changing room for the game that was about to begin.

"Ready team?" Wildwing asked.

The others just nodded their affirmative reply.

"Alright. Let's do this." With that Wildwing turned and began to lead the group out of the changing room.

The Ducks skated onto the ice to the raucous cheer of the crowd. They waved up to their adoring fans. Duke and Nosedive quickly scanned their respective sides for any sign of their new friends.

"Anything?" Duke asked, skating closer to Nosedive.

"Notta. I thought I caught a glimpse of Shiga, but… no sign of Agnus," 'Dive replied, still waving to the crowd.

Duke sighed disappointedly but then changed his mental track to the game, they had work to do now, but he couldn't completely forget about Agnus.

The two teams got into their positions and… the game began. Nosedive got a lucky move in and was able to speed the puck away from the opposition and towards the goal.

Unfortunately, his success was short lived when one of the opposing team's members whipped the puck out from under his beak.

He gritted his teeth and began to give chase with Duke and Mallory flanking him all the way.

Tanya and Grin readied themselves to defend the goal.

The crowd was noisy as ever, if not more so with the cheers coming from one particular seat.

"WOO! YEAH! Go Dive! Go!" Shiga cheered.

"It's like being _eight_ again!" Tatiana, another friend of Shiga's, said over the noise.

"Yeah, 'cept… one of the eight-year-olds is missing," Shiga replied, looking at her friend a little sadly.

Tatiana just nodded, also feeling a bit sad about that particular aspect.

"Duke shoots! He scores!" the announcer's voice said over and above the noise of the crowd, snapping Shiga and Tatiana out of their thoughts.

"WOO-HOO!" they yelled.

When the game was over, the two girls headed through to the room that was printed on the backs of their VIP passes. Shiga knocked on the door and they heard someone say 'come in'. Opening the door they found the six ducks looking a little down. They had lost the match.

"Well, look who's here," Duke said, his mood lifting when he saw the two enter.

"We weren't expecting to see you seeing as we… _lost_ and all," Nosedive added.

"Hey, we aren't 'fickle fans', Dive. Anaheim all the way," Shiga replied, trying to be sensitive to the Ducks' no doubt bruised egos.

"Who's your friend?" Mallory asked.

"Oh yeah! Uh, Ducks, this is Tatiana. My friend and soon to be award winning figure skater," Shiga replied with a smile.  
"Oh please, Shiga. I'm _just_ a figure skater. It is a pleasure to meet you guys," Tatiana said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Tatiana," Duke replied with a smile.

"What happened to Agnus?" Nosedive asked.

"She had 'work' to do," Tatiana replied.

"Which means she's sitting in her rented room looking through the classifieds _for_ work," Shiga replied, a little bit of irritation in her voice.

The Ducks just nodded.

"Anything particular that she's looking for?" Nosedive asked.

"Temporary work is what she usually does," Shiga replied.

"Only temp or… can it be a permanent thing?"

Shiga and Tatiana looked at each other and shrugged.

"Dunno. You'd have to ask the girl yourself," Shiga replied.

Nosedive just nodded.

"Why do you ask?" Tatiana asked, sensing that Nosedive had something in mind.

"Well,… there's a post coming up here. Janitorial work though. Semi-permanent. Our usual janitor's about to retire and they're looking for someone to replace him," Nosedive replied.

"Oh! We'll be sure to mention it to Aggie."

"Not like she'll be keen to take it though, Tat," Shiga said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Why not?" Wildwing asked.

"The location."

"Why? It's in a good neighbourhood," Duke said.

"Yeah. Has the best security this side of the world," Nosedive said, referring to himself and the other Ducks.

Shiga and Tatiana just smiled at the young drake.

"What's not to like?" he asked.

"You played a game of it tonight," Shiga replied.

"Hockey?"

Shiga just nodded.

"Come on. Just because people play a sport she doesn't like in an area doesn't mean she shouldn't _work_ there," Duke said.

"Yeah we know. It's just…," Shiga started.

At that moment Phil walked in.

"Bubalas! Oh! Who are your friends or do I have to call security?" he asked, pulling out his cell phone.

"No, no, Phil. They're friends," Wildwing said, walking up to the girls and turning them to face the team manager, "This is Shiga and Tatiana."

"Shiga and… Tatty? Is that you?" Phil asked.

"Hello Uncle Phil," they replied in unison, to the surprise of the Ducks.

"Wow! Look at you two! Where've you been hiding? Oh! Hey, uh… sorry about that little security thing. You know what fans are like these days."

"No worries," Shiga said, waving the situation off.

"So, where _have_ you been hiding? Have you heard from my niece recently? Y'know, I get so busy these days that personal calls… kinda don't happen."

"Oh really?" Duke asked before the girls could get a word in edgewise, "What about all those calls to your girlfriends?"

"They're business as well," Phil countered, "They're the receptionists of some guys I know."

Shiga and Tatiana couldn't help but giggle while Duke just rolled his eye at Phil's lame excuse.

"You haven't changed a bit, Uncle Phil," Tatiana said.

"Thanks, Tat. Now, questions. Answers," Phil replied.

"We've been around. Tat's learning figure skating and I'm… trying to figure out how I can get into the hockey business," Shiga replied.

"Interested in managing?"

"Sure. I'm exploring every avenue."

"I could give you some pointers if you like."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Tell you what," Phil pulled out his planner, "Meet me at the entrance to the Pond at… lunchtime Monday and we can talk over lunch. How's that sound?"

"Sure. Sounds great."

"Great. Are you still skating with Aunty Martha, Tatiana?"

"Yes. She's agreed to coach me as long as I need her to," Tatiana replied with a smile.

"That's great. You're in the best hands then. Now what else did I ask?"

"Had we seen your niece recently," the two girls replied in unison.

"Oh yeah! Have you seen, Aggs?"

"Yes. She's fine thanks," Shiga replied.

"Wait," Nosedive said, getting everyone's attention.

"What is it, Dive?" Wildwing asked.

"Agnus is your _niece_, Phil?"

"Yeah. Wait, you _know_ her?" Phil asked.

"Yeah. Met her earlier today. She's manning the counter at Captain Comics."

Phil looked at Shiga and Tatiana who were trying to look as innocent as possible.

"My niece is in town and you didn't _tell_ me?" he asked.

"Well, Aggs asked us not to," Shiga replied.

"Please tell me she's snapped out of that funk she got into a couple of years ago."

Shiga and Tatiana shook their heads sadly.

"Alright. We're going to talk to her _tomorrow_ and you two are coming with me as back up," Phil said, putting away his planner and looking more serious than was usual for him.

"Could we have an explanation about what you're talking about 'cause…," Duke started, "We're a bit lost."

"Sorry guys. Confidential. Only those who need to know. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to get to," Phil said.

"Okay, Uncle Phil," the two girls said.

"I'll see you outside of the Pond tomorrow morning. Then we'll go find my niece."

With that Phil began to leave.  
"Yes Sir," the pair said, saluting the team manager.

He couldn't help but smile at them over his shoulder before taking his leave.

The girls turned back to the Ducks who were all looking at them for an explanation.

"So," Duke said.

"What's the deal?" Nosedive asked.

Shiga and Tatiana looked at each other.

"Hey!" Mallory said, raising her voice slightly, "'Confidential' is the polite way of saying 'none of your business'. So leave it."

"Sorry guys. Mallory's right. We can't say anything," Shiga said.

"We made a promise to Aggie," Tatiana replied.

"And we can't very well make you _break_ that promise now can we?" Wildwing asked, specifically looking at his younger brother and the ex-thief.

"No," they reluctantly replied.

"Good."

Shiga and Tatiana smiled at the two, glad to be off the hook.

"So," Nosedive said, back to his usual bouncy self, "You girls got time for a late night snack?"

The other Ducks just rolled their eyes at the young drake while Shiga and Tatiana found it hard not to laugh while they nodded their agreement.

"So," Nosedive started through a mouthful of fries, "You girls into anything other than ice skating?"

Wildwing sighed inwardly. His little brother's lack of manners usually didn't bother him because he knew the others understood, but out in public… with new acquaintances… yeah not exactly easy to ignore.

"Not really," Shiga replied, also through a mouthful of fries, which sorta made Wing a little more relaxed about the whole manners thing.

"The three of us have been on the ice since we were toddlers. Aggie before that," Tatiana explained.

"Wait a sec," Duke said, getting everyone's attention, "Didn't Aggie say she _didn't_ ice skate?"

"News Flash, Duke. Humans can lie," Shiga replied.

"Especially Aggie when it comes to anything hockey," Tatiana added.

"She lies to herself when it comes to that."

Shiga and Tatiana's moods immediately dampened.

"So, um…," Duke started trying to get the conversation going again, " You said she had been on the ice before you guys. Before _she_ was a toddler."

"That's right," Tatiana replied.

"Her mom a skater then?"

"Sorta. It's more her dad."

"Really? What does he do?"

"Oh well…," Shiga started.

"We can't really say," Tatiana replied.

The Ducks looked disappointed.

"Another secret?" Nosedive asked, still with his mouth full.

"Dive. Swallow," Wildwing said, the whole talking-with-mouthful thing was getting on his nerves.

Nosedive complied and smiled at his brother.

"Thank you. Sorry, continue," he said to the two girls.

"No probs," Shiga replied with a smile.

"Yeah, another secret I'm afraid," Tatiana replied.

"I think I'm gonna come with you guys tomorrow when Phil goes to talk to her," Nosedive said.

Shiga and Tatiana looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes.

"Bad idea?" Mallory asked.

"Terrible," Shiga replied.

"No offence, Nosedive, but… having you there will cause more problems than otherwise would occur. The situation is…," Tatiana said, stopping only because she couldn't find the right words.

"Incredibly delicate," Shiga said.

"Precisely."

"You sure? I can be pretty good in delicate situations," Nosedive said.

"You?" the others, bar Wildwing, asked.

"Yeah. I'm the cuddly one of the group," Nosedive replied, hugging himself to emphasize the point.

Mallory, Duke, Tanya and Grin just looked at him with a mixture of disturbance and 'you're crazy'.

The two girls couldn't help but giggle. Nosedive's 'up' attitude seemed to melt from the response from the others.

"I'm sure you are, Nosedive," Tatiana said, trying to cheer the young drake up.

"But 'cuddly' isn't exactly what we need here," Shiga replied with a smile.

"Understood," Wildwing said, before Nosedive could continue to argue.

"Though maybe Grin would be interested in coming with," Shiga said, looking in the large drakes direction.

"Huh?" the others asked, including Tatiana.

"Yeah. Give Aggs a knock upside the head and hopefully amnesia. That way we can reprogram her."

The Ducks and Tatiana just smiled and shook their heads at her.

"I'm afraid I am a peaceful soul, Shiga. I could not do such a thing to anyone who does not deserve it," Grin said with a smile.

"Pity," Shiga said.

Just then Wildwing heard a familiar sound. Looking down the sidewalk towards the corner he found someone skating towards them and that someone was none other than…

"Aggie! Hey," he called.

Agnus stopped short and looked to see who was calling her.

Wildwing waved to her and she nodded.

"Good evening," she said, skating up to the group.

"Good evening," the Ducks replied in unison.

"I thought you had work to do," Shiga said.

"I did. Helping Mrs. O'Grundy. She's moving house soon and, being on her own, packing is a bit hard. So, I offered my assistance," Agnus replied.

"That was nice of you," Duke said.

Agnus just nodded a 'thank you' to Duke.

"It's getting late. I better be off," Agnus said, preparing to leave.

"What's the rush?" Nosedive asked.

"I have work in the morning. The comic store doesn't keep itself spic and span, Nosedive. Evening everyone." With that Agnus began to skate away from the group.

"Evening," the others replied.

"Is it just me or… did the temperature just drop?" Duke asked, watching Aggie disappear from sight.

"Don't be like that, Duke," Shiga said.

"Yeah. Aggs is a great gal when you get to know her," Tatiana added.

"_If_ she wants to know you too I guess," Duke said.

"Ye-eah. Pretty much," Shiga replied.

Duke sighed before looking back to see if he could spot the frigid young lady, but she was gone.

"She did have a point though, it _is_ getting late and… I guess you guys have to go on patrol or something," Shiga said, rising from her chair.

"Yeah. We've got to make our nightly sweep for Dragaunus. Take care you two," Wildwing said.

"We will. See ya 'round," the pair replied, beginning to head off for home.

"See ya," the Ducks replied in unison.

With a final smile and wave over their shoulders, Tatiana and Shiga took their leave of the Ducks.

"I would really like to know Agnus' problem," Duke said, tapping the edge of his beak with his hands clasped together and his elbows resting on the table.

"I'm sure we'll learn in time, Duke. We only met her today. Give her a couple of weeks," Wildwing said.

Duke just raised his eyebrows in reluctant agreement.


	3. Chapter 3

.Chapter three.

Agnus was busy setting up the comic shop, the way Thrash and Mookie had shown her several days before, when there was a knock at the door. Turning to see who it was, she almost dropped the comics she had in her arms. She stared at the people who were standing there. Two looking very apologetic and one looking way too serious for his own good.

"Morning Aggie," Phil said, his arms folded across his chest.

"Uncle Phil?" Agnus asked, trying not to look horrified and forcing a smile.

Phil pointed to the door lock and tapped his foot impatiently.

Agnus hurried to the counter to set the comics down and find the keys.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, unlocking the door.

"Coming to see you," Phil replied, walking in with Shiga and Tatiana in tow.

"Sorry Ags," Tatiana apologized.

"We kinda bumped into him after the game last night," Shiga added.

Agnus just rolled her eyes. Again _hockey_ had caused a dilemma in her life.

"Now, Aggie, before I say what I came to say…," Phil started, turning to face his niece while she closed the door behind Shiga.

"Yes?" she asked somewhat suspiciously.

"How's about a hug? I haven't seen you in years."

With that Phil walked forward and scooped Agnus into a sort of bear hug. She couldn't help but smile at her uncle and hugged him back.

"I've missed you, Uncle Phil," she whispered.

"And I you, Kiddo," he replied.

Tatiana and Shiga smiled at their friends as they pulled away from each other.

"Right. Down to business," Phil said, getting back into serious mode.

"Yes?" Agnus asked, becoming guarded again.

"Two little birdies tell me you haven't snapped out of your funk yet."

"It's not a 'funk', Uncle Phil. It's just a fact." Agnus moved past him to pick up the comics she had yet to put on the shelves.

"Whatever. I'm snapping you out of it whether you like it or not. When does your contract here end?"

"Friday why?"

"I've got a job for you at the Pond."

Agnus froze, her eyes widening at the thought. Finally she looked at Phil, who was currently pulling out a set of papers from his jacket pocket.

"Janitor," Phil said, laying the papers out on the counter.

"Janitor?" Agnus asked, setting the comics down in the shelves.

"Yes. Semi-permanent."

"Uncle Phil, I don't think that's…"

"What other options do you have?"

Agnus was at a loss as to what to say; she didn't have any other options.

"Guessed as much. Come on. Sign on the dotted line and you can begin Friday," Phil said, getting out a pen.

Agnus just looked at him as she computed what had just been said to her.

Phil held the pen out towards her, waiting for her to come to him, take it and sign the papers.

"No. No! I… Uncle Phil, that's… that'll be torture for me! You want to do that to me? Huh? You _want_ to send me over the deep end? Surrounded by the very thing that…" Agnus started angrily, but then had to stop. She couldn't say the next thing.

"Okay," Phil said, putting his hands up in front of himself in a form of surrender.

With the grace of someone who deals with this sort of emotional outburst on a daily basis, and who knows that the person in question has no other option, he packed the papers and pen up again. "You know where to find me if you change your mind, Aggie. Take care, Sweetheart."

Agnus' heart was pounding in her ribcage, her face was slightly red and she felt a bit shaky as she watched her uncle leave the comic shop.

"Girls," he said before leaving, nodding a goodbye to Shiga and Tatiana.

"See ya, Uncle Phil," they called after him in unison.

He smiled at them and then disappeared into the crowd that was growing in the Anaheim mall.

Agnus thought for a moment about what had just happened, but then shook her head and continued with her work to get the shop ready.

"We'll see you later, Aggie," Tatiana said, beginning to make her way towards the door. There was no way she wanted to be in the same room as Agnus right now, at least not without someone substantial to back her and Shiga up.

"Yeah. See ya," Shiga called.

Agnus turned just in time to see her friends walking out of the door and into the crowd. She sighed to herself before getting back to work, but she wasn't in her usual reasonably calm state of mind. What her uncle had proposed minutes ago kept playing through her head. She hadn't found anything else in the papers yet and he was family so she knew he wouldn't gyp her out of pay, which was most definitely a little bit more than what she was making now and would make from just about any other job she would get. She decided to leave thinking about the subject until her job at Captain Comics was up, which was a whole three days away.

Three days had never gone faster in Agnus' life. Friday came around all too quickly and Thrash and Mookie were back from their convention in the next state.

"Well, place is still standing," Thrash said, looking around the shop.

"Yeah. Nice job, Ags," Mookie said, looking at the young lady behind the counter.

"No problem, Guys. It was fun… for the most part," Agnus replied.

"You meet Nosedive?" Thrash asked.

Agnus felt a twang of anguish, but put on a brave face.

"Yeah. I met him, along with the others," she replied.

"Cool isn't he?" Mookie asked, walking behind the counter to check on the things back there.

"Yeah. I guess so."

Thrash and Mookie looked at Agnus and then at each other, a bit perplexed.

"Did… he say something wrong?" Thrash asked, trying to figure out how anyone could _not_ like Dive.

"No. He was very nice. Even took care of the store for a few minutes while I dealt with a friend in the backroom. She's… a bit of a hockey fan and when she came in and found the whole Mighty Ducks team… I don't think I need to say any more," Agnus said, slinging her backpack onto her back.

"Naa, got ya, Dudette," Thrash replied with a smile.

"Well, I'll see you two around then."

Agnus skated out from behind the counter and began to head for the door.

"Yeah. If we have any more work, we'll let you know," Mookie said.

"Thanks, Mookie. I appreciate it," Agnus said with a smile.

"What're your plans now?" Thrash asked, taking his place behind the counter too.

"I'm going to go talk to my uncle about a post that's become available."

"Oh! Awesome," Mookie said.

"Yeah. 'Awesome'. See ya," Agnus said, skating out of the comic shop and beginning to head out of the mall.

"See ya!" Thrash and Mookie called after her.

Once they were sure she was out of earshot they turned to each other.

"Weird kid," Thrash said.

"Yeah. Nice though," Mookie added.

Thrash just nodded before he and Mookie got to work setting out new comics and the like.

The tall walls of the Anaheim Pond appeared to loom over Agnus as she looked up at them. She was standing at the front door to the skating rink, gathering the courage to actually go in. This would be her first time in a building like this since the incident. A quick glance at her watch told her that the day was running away already and that it was now or never. She took a calming breath and then walked up to the door; she had put covers on her wheels so that she wouldn't damage the floors inside. She took hold of the door handle and then hesitated. Memories wanted to come flooding back, but, shaking her head, she fought them back.

"This is just business. It's not permanent. It'll just keep me afloat until I can find something else," she said to herself, opening the door and skating in.

The interior of the building was completely quiet except for the echoing sounds of the Ducks practicing.

Agnus went to where she knew Phil's old office was, but didn't find him.

"Still his office though," she said, looking around the room. It just said 'Phil'.

Seeing as the office had failed, Agnus decided to try the other areas of the building.

It felt as if she had searched the whole building as she walked by one of the entrances to the rink. She had been deliberately avoiding the rink as it was the part of the building she least wanted to see. At that moment she heard Phil's voice. Coming from within the stands around the rink.

"Naturally. He would be sitting _in_ the stands," she said, turning around and heading into the area.

The sight before her was one she would have been used to when she was little. There were six figures on the ice, all clad in ice hockey gear and knocking the daylights out of the little black puck that was skimming across the ice from one stick to the next. Looking around the stands, Agnus finally found Phil; a couple of rows up from the rink so that he had a good view of his team and could make phone calls in relative peace.

"Of course they won't mind, Boobie," Phil said into the receiver of his cell phone.

Agnus couldn't help but smile amusedly at her uncle. He hardly ever changed.

"Sure, sure. I'll talk to them don't worry. Okay. Sure. Talk to ya later," Phil said and finally ended the call.

"Nice to see that you haven't lost your ability to make deals, Uncle Phil," Agnus said.

Phil snapped his head around to see who had addressed him and smiled happily when he saw his niece walking up to him.

"Aggie! Hey! You come to talk business or just for a visit?" Phil asked, standing up and giving his niece a hug.

"Business. I wouldn't _be_ here otherwise."

"Of course. Well, take a seat. This is my office away from my office."

Phil sat down and pulled out the papers he had had with him earlier that week.

Meanwhile, down on the ice, Duke had noticed another person with Phil.

"Dive," he called to the younger drake.

"Yeah?" Dive called back.

Duke signalled for him to come closer, which he did.

"Isn't that Aggie up there with Phil?" he asked in a slightly hushed voice.

Nosedive peered up at the two and then gave a little unbelieving laugh.

"Yeah. It is," he said.

Duke just nodded and then, looking over to Wildwing, gestured towards the two humans with his hockey stick.

Wildwing nodded and signalled to the others that practise was over.

The others nodded in understanding.

With that the six began to make their way, not towards the changing room, but towards the stands where Phil was seated.

"Now if you'll just sign here, here and here," he said, pointing to the spaces on the contract.

"Well, well, well. Look who's ventured into the Pond," Duke said from behind Agnus just as she was about to put the pen to the paper.

She looked back and found the whole Mighty Ducks team.

"Duke," she said, pulling the pen away from the paper as she turned to face the team.

"Agnus," he said, nodding politely.

"So, you taking Phil up on his offer?" Nosedive asked with a smile.

"Yeah. I… don't have any other option," Agnus replied.

"Don't be like that, Agnus," Wildwing said, walking up to the young lady and taking a seat next to her.

He could see that she was getting guarded again.

"Relax," he said, putting a hand onto her shoulder and taking off his mask to seem more personable, "We're the good guys remember?"

"Yeah, if it weren't for us you'd still be having to deal with Chuckie-boy," Nosedive said.

Agnus couldn't help but smile at the young drake.

"True," she said.

"Chuckie?" Phil asked, while Agnus set about signing the papers.

"Yeah. Your niece's rather forward suitor," Duke replied.

"Aggie! Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"'Cause I was keeping a low profile," Agnus replied, handing the papers back to her uncle.

"From me?"

"Yes."

"But he's your uncle. A blood relative. Why were you hiding from him?" Wildwing asked, going into full big brother mode.

"What does Uncle Phil deal in, Wildwing?" Agnus asked, getting the older drake to come to his own conclusion.

Wildwing just nodded.

"What happened to…," he started.

"I don't think it's any of your business," Agnus replied politely.

Wildwing looked her straight in the eye, kindly and gently, and then smiled.

"Okay. If you ever want to talk… we're here," he said with a smile.

Nosedive smiled at his brother. He was always proud of how Wildwing treated others.

Agnus just nodded a 'thank you' before turning to Phil again.

"So, when do I start?" she asked.

"Tomorrow. You'll need the rest of the day to move in," Phil replied with a smile.

"Move in?"

"Yeah. I got Shig and Tat to take me through to where you've been staying. You know, to check it out and, I must say, Aggie, I was _not_ impressed. So, I told the guy running the place that I was one of your legal guardians and that I was terminating your lease on the room there. You have until this evening to get out. I've already spoken to the Ducks and Grin and Nosedive have agreed to help move you out."

Agnus just gaped at her uncle. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"So, you've got a choice. You can move in with me or… you can move in here. The Ducks have already cleared a room for you," he continued.

Agnus was silent for a moment, but then…

"Who do you think you are?" she snarled, rising from her seat.

"Your uncle," Phil replied, rising too to meet Agnus on her level.

"I'm not a _dependent_, Uncle Phil, nor am I a _minor_! You have _no right_ to do this to me!"

"Sorry, Sweetheart, but I'm doing what I think is best for you. In the absence of your parents, I believe it's my duty. No, I know, you're not a dependant or a minor, but… you're still my niece. I'm doing this because I love you."

Agnus just glared at her uncle and then, spinning one-eighty degrees, marched hurriedly out. The Ducks moved quickly to get out of her way.

"Wow," Nosedive said once she had disappeared from sight.

"Yeah. Don't judge her by what you see here though. This isn't my _real_ niece," Phil said, looking at the doorway where Agnus had disappeared from sight.

"What's the _real_ Aggie like, Phil?" Duke asked.

"Sweet as anything. Nicest kid on the block, far as I'm concerned anyway. Talk to Shiga and Tatiana if you want a non-family take on her."

"Can _you_ tell us about what's caused her to become… like this?" Wildwing asked.

"Sorry, Wildwing. Aggie would have my head if I did that. No. You're just going to have to wait until she's ready to talk. What I'm doing to her now is hard enough already," Phil replied.

"So this is actually an orchestrated operation?" Mallory asked.

"Yep. I'm getting Ags out of this funk. I want my niece back and I'm sure her parents want their baby girl back too."

The Ducks just nodded.

"If we can help in anyway, Phil," Wildwing started.

"Thanks, Boobella, but just by being around her I think you'll help. Now, Nosedive, Grin, come with me. We'll find Aggie and then you two can help her move to wherever she decides. Okay?"

"Sure," Grin replied with a nod.

"Gotcha," Nosedive replied with a thumbs up and a smile.

Phil nodded and then, with a final 'goodbye' nod to Wildwing and the others, began to make his way out of the stands to find his niece with Dive and Grin in tow.

Outside the Pond, Agnus was sitting next to one of the pillars next to the entrance.

"Thought I'd find you here," Phil said from behind Agnus.

Agnus looked back at him and was half surprised to find Nosedive and Grin with him.  
"Dive and Grin are ready to help you move. You've just gotta tell 'em where," Phil said, while Agnus got to her feet.

She looked at the two ducks in question and then at her uncle.

"I'll leave you kids to it then," Phil said, taking his leave.

Agnus watched him walk away and only when he had disappeared from sight did she turn her attention to Dive and Grin.

"Well, shall we get going?" Nosedive asked with a cheerful smile.

"Don't have an _option_ do I?" Agnus asked, feeling very prickly at the moment.

"Uh-heh, yeah. Uh… right this way."

With that Dive turned and began to head back into the Pond.

Grin smiled down at Agnus and gestured for her to go first.

She nodded her 'thanks' and began to walk after Nosedive with Grin close behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

.Chapter four.

It wasn't long before Dive, Grin and Agnus were in the Migrator and on their way to Agnus' rented room.

"As you can see we've taken the liberty of picking up some boxes," Nosedive said, pointing back over his shoulder with his thumb at some boxes in the back.

"Thank you," Agnus, who was in the passenger seat next to Nosedive, replied.

"And we've brought along plenty of duct tape," Grin said with a smile.

Agnus looked a bit confused, while Nosedive looked like he was trying to hold in a chuckle.

"Don't you mean _box tape_, Grin?" Agnus asked, turning around in her seat to see the larger duck.

"No. Duct tape," he replied. He also looked like he was about to laugh.

"They didn't have any box tape when we were sent to fetch some so we went for the next best thing," Nosedive explained.

"Duct tape?" Agnus asked.

"Well, it _sounds_ like it's got a name you can trust."

Agnus couldn't help but chuckle.

Nosedive and Grin looked at her a little surprised, but delighted at the same time.

"You guys have a sense of humour," she said, still chuckling a little bit.

"Glad to see you think so," Nosedive said with a smile.

Just then they came to a red stop light and an awkward silence ensued.

"So," Agnus started, much to Grin and Nosedive's relief, "Who built this… vehicle?"

"Tanya," Nosedive replied.

"Tanya? As in Tanya Vanderflock? Your guys' Tanya?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. Impressive."

"You… like cars?" Grin asked cautiously.

"Yeah. Sorta I guess. I was working on a motorcycle back home before I came back to Anaheim. It… was more scrap than bike, but you know," Agnus replied.

"Sounds like you and Tanya have something in common. When you get a chance maybe you could talk to her about stuff like that," Nosedive said.

Agnus just nodded in agreement, but then she got an idea.

"While we're on the subject of your team mates, Boys, how's about giving me a quick over view of them? Just so I know who's who," Agnus said.

"Um. Okay, sure. Well, there's Wildwing. My bro and our leader. Very nice guy."

"Then there's Duke," Grin said.

"Our local swordsman, gentleman and ex-jewel thief."

"Jewel thief?" Agnus asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Don't hold it against him though," Nosedive said, just as the light changed to green.

"He has put his thieving days behind him," Grin added.

"Glad to hear it. I just… would never have pegged him as a… thief," Agnus said, still shocked by this newest piece of info.

"Best on Puckworld too," Nosedive said.

Agnus just nodded understandingly.

"Alright, where were we?" Nosedive said, trying to remember where they were up to in team members.

"Tanya," Grin replied.

"Oh right. Then there's Tanya. Our resident brain and techno-whiz. She's responsible for all things electronic. From the vehicles and computers to setting the clock on the VCR."

"I'm definitely going to have to have a word with her," Agnus said.

Nosedive chuckled slightly before continuing, "Next up is Mallory."

"Do _not_ get in her way on a bad day," Grin said.

"Firecracker huh?" Agnus asked.

"More like TNT," Nosedive replied.

"I'll steer clear when she looks like she's in a bad mood."

"Smart kid. Alright. Who's next?"

"Well, there's just you and Grin left. Grin, how about you tell me about Nosedive and then, Nosedive, you can tell me about Grin."

"Okay," Grin replied.

"Sure. Go for it, Grinster," Nosedive said.

"Nosedive, as you can see, is quite the enthusiastic member of our team. He's not tied down to being like everyone else. He's happy as he is," Grin said to Agnus.

Nosedive was smiling from ear to ear as he listened to what Grin had to say about him.

"Yes. I can see that," Agnus replied with a smile.

"He may get on everyone's nerves because of his individuality, but… we are all still very fond of him. Even if certain members don't show it too often."

Nosedive sniffed slightly.

"You okay, Dive?" Agnus asked, noticing the younger duck's misty eyes.

"Yeah. It's just… you know what it's like when people talk about you like that," he replied before sniffing again.

Agnus couldn't help but smile at him.

"Guess I've gotta tell you about Grin now," he said.

"Yep," Agnus replied.

"Well, let's see. He's the biggest guy we've got, a great friend, kills at chess; just ask Mallory, has a heart of gold and isn't too shabby whipping up a storm in the kitchen."

Grin just smiled at Nosedive.

Agnus nodded a 'thank you' to Nosedive and then turned her attention to the road ahead of them.

"Well, here we are," Nosedive said, turning into the parking lot in front of a very shabby looking building.

"Yeah," Agnus replied, looking up at the apartment building she had been calling home for the past while.

Agnus led the way up to her room.

"No offence, Girly Girl, but… this place is a dump," Nosedive said, looking at the walls as they walked along one of the corridors.

"I know, but it was the only thing I could get," Agnus replied, unlocking the door to her room.

The three walked in and Dive and Grin stopped short.

"Wow. When they say 'a room' they mean 'a room'," Nosedive said, looking around the pokey little place Agnus was calling home at the moment.

"It's big enough," Agnus said.

"Barely. So, you decided where Grin and I are going to be moving your stuff to?"

"The Pond, if you don't mind."

Nosedive just looked at Agnus for a moment, somewhat surprised by the reply.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Unless you and the others don't want me there," Agnus said.

"No! No, we don't mind having you around. You're neighbours with Wing and I. I just thought… you'd want to crash at your uncle's place is all. You know, him being family and all."

"I love Uncle Phil dearly, Nosedive, but… he can push buttons, as I'm sure you've discovered."

"Gotcha. So, to the Pond?"

Agnus just nodded and then headed into a small adjacent room that supposedly acted as a bedroom with an 'en suite'.

"You got the tape?" Grin asked Nosedive.

"Oh yeah," Nosedive replied, whipping the tape out of his pocket and twirling it around his finger like a cowboy would a gun.

While Agnus collected her stuff from her bedroom and 'en suite' she could hear Dive and Grin putting boxes together and, apparently, taping themselves to the boxes.

"Everything okay guys?" she asked.

"Yeah. Everything's under control," Nosedive replied, a little uncertainly.

Deciding to help before anything got damaged, duck or otherwise, Agnus stopped packing her bag and went to see what was going on.

When she entered the 'living room' she couldn't help but giggle at the sight before her.

"What have you guys gotten yourselves into?" she asked, still giggling.

"A sticky situation," Grin replied.

Somehow he and Nosedive had taped boxes to their legs and their arms. He had a box taped to each of his legs, while Nosedive had both arms taped to a single box.

"How…," Agnus started.

"They looked a bit flimsy so… Grin and I thought we'd strengthen them with a bit of tape," Nosedive explained, while Agnus picked up the box knife the pair had brought with and began to cut Dive's arms free.

"Okay. You won't need too many boxes. I hardly have anything."

Dive looked around the cramped room. It sure looked like a lot of stuff.

"The furniture's just big," Agnus said, finally freeing Nosedive's arms.

"And _that's_ why we have Grin here," Nosedive said cheerfully. Very glad that he didn't have to pick the heavy stuff up alone.

Agnus couldn't help but laugh, which brought a smile to both Dive and Grin's faces.

"You forgot to mention that he was random, Grin," Agnus said, still chuckling.

"It slipped my mind," Grin replied, while Agnus set to work cutting him free.

"So, where do you want me to start?" Nosedive asked, looking around the room as if it were a minefield.

"Perhaps you and Grin could start by moving the furniture in here out," Agnus replied.

"Okay. You free, Grin?"

"Almost," Grin replied.

At that moment Agnus cut him free.

"Now I am," he replied.

"Right, let's get to moving."

With that the pair set their sights on the armchair that was cowering in the back of the room under a pile of newspapers.

Meanwhile, Agnus set about packing the rest of her stuff in her bedroom.

"Say, Aggie," Nosedive said, his voice almost drowned out by the sound of papers falling to the ground.

"Yeah?" Agnus asked.

"Ever heard of recycling?"

"Yes and I've been meaning to for the past while. If you would like, you could stuff all those papers into one of the boxes you brought with you."

"You're not planning on bringing them with are you?"

"No. I'll drop them off at the nearest recycling depot."

"Gotcha."

A little while later, the 'apartment' was cleared.

"Oh. So that's what colour the carpet was," Agnus said, looking at the empty floor.

"Yeah. Brown. Just a different shade than the walls and ceiling," Nosedive replied.

"Thank you guys."

"Think nothing of it, Aggie," Grin said with a smile.

"Can we go now?" Nosedive asked.

"Sure," Agnus replied.

"You do have everything, right?" Grin asked.

"I'll do a quick check."

With that Agnus ventured back in to check that she had taken everything that was hers.

"You just _had_ to go say that," Nosedive said.

"I don't want her to leave something important behind," Grin said.

"All sorted, Guys. Let's go," Agnus said, walking back to them.

"Thank you," Nosedive said, stepping out into the corridor with Grin to allow Agnus space to shut and lock the door.

On their way back to the Pond, Nosedive noticed that Agnus wasn't being too uptight.

"You feeling better about this whole move, Ags?" Nosedive asked.

"Sorta. Why?" Agnus asked.

"You're kinda not being as hostile as you were earlier when Phil originally told you."

"That's just me, Dive. I explode, simmer and then I'm cool."

"That sounds normal," Grin said.

"Thanks, Grin," Agnus said with a smile.

Just then Nosedive had a thought. Maybe now would be a good time to ask Agnus about her dislike of hockey. He opened his beak to ask the question, but then stopped. He didn't want to upset her again.

"Something wrong, Nosedive?" Agnus asked, noticing his thoughtful look.

"Huh? Oh! No. Nothing. Just… thinking," he replied with a smile.

Agnus just nodded at him and made a mental note that perhaps she would have to take a little while longer in getting used to Nosedive.

Back at the Pond, the others waited for their new house mate to arrive. Nosedive had contacted them when he and Grin where in the process of moving Agnus' furniture, or lack there of, into the Migrator.

"So we're all clear on this. No one mentions anything 'hockey' around, Agnus. Moving into the hockey stadium's going to be stressful enough," Wildwing said.

"We got it the first ten times, Wing. Thanks for refreshing our memories," Duke said, relaxed as ever if not more so than usual.

"I'm sorry," Wildwing sighed, "I guess I'm just a little… nervous for her, is all."

Duke smiled and shook his head slightly. "You're too much of a big brother, you know that?

Wildwing just smiled back at the master swordsman across from him.

Silence once again reigned in the T.V area of the base, but Wildwing's uneasiness was starting to affect the others.

"I suppose someone should contact Phil and let him know that Agnus has chosen to live here," Mallory said.

"I'll make the call," Wildwing said, getting up and heading off to Drake-1 to make the call.

Once he was out the other three ducks let out a sigh of relief.

"Is it just me or is he taking this way too… seriously?" Tanya asked.

"He's a big brother, Tanya. It's in his DNA to be protective over those he considers younger than himself. You saw how he tried to calm Agnus down earlier and how he tried to coax out of her what happened to make her dislike hockey," Duke said.

"Yeah, so? That's not protecting."

"True, but… he feels like he needs to help her. You know, let her know that she has someone to talk to should she need to talk at any point."

Tanya just nodded in understanding before looking at the door where Wildwing had disappeared moments ago.


	5. Chapter 5

.Chapter five.

Nosedive drove down the chute that led to the Ducks' secret base beneath the Pond.

"Here we are! Home sweet home!" he announced, gesturing grandly with one hand to open space inside the base which held the Migrator.

"Yeah," Agnus sighed, looking around the subterranean room as Nosedive parked the Migrator where it usually resided.

"Now, you just head straight on through and tell the first duck you find that we're gonna need some help."

Agnus just nodded and moved to get out of the passenger seat.

"Except if it's Wing," Nosedive added quickly.

"Why not if it's Wildwing?" she asked, a bit puzzled.

"I think he wants to give you a guided tour. You know, settle you in and stuff like that. Personally."

Agnus just looked at Nosedive, a bit surprised at the news.

"Off you go," he said with a smile, while unbuckling his seat belt.

Agnus just nodded and began to head out of the Migrator.

The interior of the Ducks' headquarters was eerily quiet. Agnus felt a bit uneasy skating through, especially seeing as she didn't know where she was going.

Just then she heard another set of footsteps, which just about made her jump a foot in the air. She stood stock still until she saw who it was.

"Agnus," Wildwing said with a smile, walking up to her.

"Hi Wildwing," she replied with a little smile.

"Nosedive and Grin doing alright with your stuff?"

"They did ask me to ask the first duck I came across to go help them… unless it was you though."

Wildwing smiled before continuing, "Dive tell you why?"

"Sorta. Said you wanted to give me a bit of a tour or something."

Wildwing nodded and smiled before turning and gesturing down a corridor to their left.

"Shall we start?" he asked.

"Sure," Agnus replied.

Wildwing smiled and pressed a button on his gauntlet, activating his skates.

Agnus looked down at the skates somewhat surprised and somewhat impressed.

"Let's go," Wing said, beginning to skate down the corridor.

Agnus followed him closely. There was no way she wanted to get lost in this place.

Meanwhile, Nosedive and Grin were in the process of moving the small sofa they had found in Agnus' apartment into her new room next to Dive and Wing's own.

"Last piece?" Duke asked, poking his head out of his own room as they passed it.

"No. First," Grin replied, as he continued on down the corridor.

Duke just nodded.

"You wanna help?" Nosedive asked, hopefully.

"And rob you of the enjoyment of helping a fellow hockey fan move in? I don't think so," Duke replied, chuckling as he ducked back into his room and closing the door behind him.

"Oh ha ha! Very funny! You know how she feels about hockey!" Nosedive yelled back.

"For now at least," Grin said.

Nosedive just muttered something under his breath while he and Grin continued to take the sofa through the base.

"This is our Quantum Fusion Generator," Wildwing said, his voice echoing through the cavernous room while he and Agnus skated around the huge piece of hardware in the centre.

"Impressive," she said, looking up at it.

"It generates all the power we need to run our headquarters, including Drake-1."

"Sure must be handy to have when the city's plunged into darkness during a power outage."

"No kidding. This is also the lowest level of the HQ. Above us are three other levels, containing our quarters, living spaces, laboratories, medical facilities, vehicle docking and repair stations and command centre. The fourth level is the Pond building itself."

Agnus just nodded.

Wildwing was a bit unsure as to what to make of Agnus' silence, but didn't want to seem as if he was deliberately avoiding the topic of 'hockey' as he actually was.

"Um, onward and upward?" he asked with an uneasy smile.

"Sure, lead the way," Agnus replied.

Wildwing just nodded, smiled once more and then began to lead the way out to the elevator that had brought them down in the first place.

Nosedive glared at the group that had gathered to watch him and Grin ferry stuff from the Migrator to Agnus' new room.

"You could help," he said.

"You two seem to be doing alright. Besides, I swung by the Migrator before I came here and you don't have much more to bring. Just a few measly boxes," Mallory replied with a smile, thoroughly enjoying seeing the youngest member of the team do some real hard work for a change.

Nosedive rolled his eyes and continued on his way into Agnus' room to plonk the drawing board he was carrying down before returning to the Migrator to pick up some of those boxes Mallory had mentioned moments ago.

The doors to the vehicle repair station hissed open and Wildwing and Agnus skated in.

"Tanya's domain I presume," Agnus said, looking around at the various pieces of equipment hanging, standing and generally being in the area.

"Heh, yeah," Wildwing replied with a little chuckle.

Just then Agnus caught sight of one of the Duck-cycles that was in for repairs. Wildwing noticed how Agnus was looking at the bike and smiled to himself.

"You into motorcycles, Agnus?" he asked, skating towards the 'injured' Duck-cycle.

"Yeah. I was working on one before I came to Anaheim. Little project that was meant to become a useful mode of transport," Agnus replied, following Wildwing's lead.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"How far'd you get?"

"Far enough to call it a motorcycle _shaped_ scrap pile."

Wildwing snorted at the quip and Agnus just smiled amusedly.

"How about I take you for a spin on this one's twin later?" Wing asked, patting the handlebars of the Duck-cycle.

"Serious?"

"Yeah. Just a little spin around the city as part of our usual patrol for Dragaunus."

Agnus smiled at the white drake before her before saying, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Wildwing replied with a smile, glad to see that Agnus was warming up to him, "Shall we move on?"

Agnus nodded and waited for Wing to take the lead.

Back in Agnus' new room, Dive was slumped in the armchair while Grin arranged the furniture as he saw best.

"Let the girl move some of it, Grinster. We did all the hard work," Nosedive said.

"We barely broke a sweat," Grin replied, nudging the sofa just slightly so that it lined up with the lamp stand.

"Says the strong duck."

"You sweating bullets because you might break something?" Duke asked, leaning on the back of the chair.

"Something like that yeah. You saw her explode at Phil. I do _not_ want to become duck flambé because I dinged something, thank you very much," Nosedive replied.

"Phil's family, Nosedive. You know what it's like. You'll fly off at family for doing something, but not at a friend or a stranger if they do the same thing."

"Still don't want to test that out with Aggie."

Duke couldn't help but smile amusedly at the younger drake.

"The rest of us are going to be up by Drake-1 if you'd like to come join us," Duke said, turning to leave.

"Right behind you, Duke," Nosedive replied, pushing himself up out of his slump.

Duke smiled over his shoulder at Nosedive before taking his leave.

"Hey, Grin, you comin' or what?" Nosedive asked, springing up from his chair.

"Be there in a minute," Grin replied from his position next to the lamp stand.

Nosedive looked at his friend a little perplexedly.

"What are you…," he started, walking up to Grin.

Nosedive stopped when he saw what his friend was doing and rolled his eyes disbelievingly. Grin was fiddling with the lamp shade, trying to get it perfectly straight.

"Alright! That's enough, Grinster. Let the lady do _something_. Even if it _is_ just setting the lamp shade right," Nosedive said, taking hold of Grin's arm and beginning to haul him out of the room.

"Hold on. I almost had it," Grin said.

"_Now_ Grinster!"

Grin quickly nudged the lamp shade with his finger getting into perfect alignment and then allowed himself to be pulled along by the younger drake.

Eventually, Wildwing and Agnus joined the others in the command centre.

"Thought we'd find you guys here," Wing said, while he and Agnus skated up to them.

"Why do you say that?" Duke asked.

"Try the fact we didn't see hide nor feather of any of you the entire time we toured the HQ."

Duke just shrugged.

"Thanks you guys," Agnus said, skating up to Dive and Grin.

"No problem. There may be a dust bunny or two you may need to move, but… I think everything's in order _otherwise_," Nosedive replied, looking in Grin's direction out of the corner of his eye.

Grin didn't appreciate the dig at his wanting to put everything perfect for their new friend, but, naturally, didn't say anything.

"I noticed. Who's the perfectionist?" Agnus asked, looking between the two.

"Not Nosedive, that's for sure," Mallory said.

Nosedive, not being in any mood to share smart remarks right now, just glared at her.

"Grin?" Agnus asked, looking up at the big drake.

Grin just nodded sagely.

"Thank you. Your hard work is much appreciated. I was sort of dreading having to shunt things around."

"Yeah, we swung by Agnus' room before coming here and, I must say, I'm impressed," Wildwing said with a smile.

Grin just smiled, more to himself than at Agnus and Wildwing, and looked at Nosedive out of the corner of his eye in a 'told you so' sort of fashion.

Nosedive just wrinkled his beak slightly in irritation. If Wing hadn't been there he may have pulled a tongue at the larger drake, but…, things being as they were, he behaved himself.

"I'm grateful for your hard work too, Nosedive. I hope I can make it up to you two at some stage," Agnus said.

"I'm sure we'll think of something sooner or later," Nosedive said with a smile, his mood lightening a little bit.

Agnus just smiled at him.

At that moment Phil walked into the room.

"Settling in nicely, Aggie?" he asked, walking up to the group.

"She's just finished the grand tour with Wildwing 'ere, Phil. Give her five minutes okay?" Duke said.

"Hey, I just want my niece to be happy."

"So do we, Phil. Don't worry. We'll do all we can to make her feel at home," Wildwing said, putting an arm around Agnus' shoulders.

"Thanks, Wildwing. I appreciate it."

Wildwing just smiled at the manager and then turned his attention to the niece in question.

"Now, you know your way around our headquarters, just make yourself at home and if you need anything just call me," he said, handing her a wrist communicator.

Agnus took the device from Wildwing and looked at it a bit quizzically.

"It's linked directly to mine. Don't worry, you won't be calling any of the others by accident," Wildwing continued with a slightly amused smile, seeing Agnus' expression.

"Thanks," she said, strapping the device onto her wrist. "Well," Agnus continued, "If you guys don't mind I'd like to just spend some time in my room. Everything already seems to be in place, but… I'd like to unpack."

"Certainly. I'll be 'round later to check in on you."

"Thanks, Wildwing. I appreciate the concern."

Wildwing just smiled at her and she smiled back.

With that Agnus turned and skated off towards her room.

"I see she's warming up to you, Wildwing," Phil said.

"Yes. I think meeting her on her own level helped a bit," Wildwing replied, lifting one of his skates off of the ground momentarily.

"No doubt. Just make sure to give her space when she needs it, okay? She needs plenty of it sometimes."

"We'll be sensitive, Phil. Don't worry."

"Good. Well, I've got a meeting to get to and don't forget you lot have a game tonight."

With that Phil turned and began to make his way out.

"Like we'd forget our own hockey game," Nosedive said, once Phil was out of earshot.

"He's just nervous. You can see it," Wildwing replied.

"Why?"

Wing just looked in the direction Agnus had disappeared in moments ago and Dive got the idea.

Meanwhile, deep within the chambers of the cloaked Raptor, Dragaunus paced to and fro. Anyone watching him would have gotten a neck work out with the speed he was going. Just then Siege, Wraith and Chameleon walked into the room and stopped short when they caught sight of their disgruntled leader.

"Uh… perhaps we should come back later," Wraith said in a hushed voice to his fellow Saurians.

"Good idea," Chameleon replied, nodding vigorously. He was not keen on getting his toockus fired by a fireball right at this very moment in time.

The three turned to leave, but stopped when Dragaunus spoke up.

"Not so fast you three," he said.

The three Saurians in question turned slowly to face their leader. His face was no longer twisted into an expression of annoyance and dissatisfaction. They all knew the expression he wore now. He had finally come up with another grand plan and, by the level of malicious glee they could see in his toothy grin, they could guess that it was one to get rid of the Ducks.

Back at Duck HQ, Wildwing was just on his way to see how Agnus was doing. He knocked at her door, waited to hear her say 'come in' and then let himself in.

"Doing well I see," he said, walking in and looking around the room.

"Yeah. Unpacked and just about ready to start work tomorrow morning," Agnus replied from her seat on her armchair.

Wildwing, after surveying the room once more, looked at the sofa which was across the way from Agnus.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing towards the chair.

"Sure," Agnus replied, setting her book down onto a nearby table.

Wildwing nodded and then sat down on the sofa.

"You… okay?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah. No problems, Wildwing. Why?" Agnus asked.

"No reason. I just… don't want you to feel put out is all."  
"I'm fine, Wildwing. You don't have to worry. It's very nice here."

"Yeah. Dive was telling me about your previous place of residence."

Agnus just smiled at the white drake. This place was a palace in comparison to the place she had been calling home a few hours ago.

"Well, I really just came to check in on you and… seeing as you're okay… I'll be off," Wildwing said, getting up and beginning to move towards the door.

"Okay," Agnus said with a smile. She knew that Wildwing was in a little more of a hurry to leave than he was putting on. He had practice to get to.

"If you need anything… just contact me with the wrist-com, okay?"

"Will do."

Wildwing nodded and smiled at Agnus as he pressed the button to open the door.

"You don't have to worry though, Wildwing," Agnus said before he stepped out.

Wildwing looked at her as he waited for her to continue.

"I won't call you in the middle of practice, or in the middle of your game," she said, picking up her book and getting comfortable again.

Wildwing raised his brows in surprise, but then smiled somewhat amusedly and said, "Thanks, Agnus."

"Please. Call me 'Aggie'. Easier to pronounce."

"Fine. So long as you call me 'Wing'. Easier to work with."

"Deal."

The pair smiled at each other and then Wildwing took his leave, closing Agnus' room door as he left.


	6. Chapter 6

.Chapter six.

It was nearing ten o'clock at night when Agnus heard a knock at her door.

"Come in," she said, looking towards the door from her spot on her armchair.

The doors hissed open and Wildwing walked in.

"Hey," Wildwing said.

"Hey, good game?" Agnus asked.

"I thought you didn't like hockey." Wildwing folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't. I'm just being polite."

Wildwing's mood dampened slightly, but he quickly moved on.

"It was okay. Five-three, our favour," he said.

"Well done."

"Thanks."

Agnus just nodded.

"You… ready to go for that ride? The others are already getting ready in the Migrator," he said.

"Sure," Agnus replied, setting her book down and getting up.

Wildwing smiled at her and then turned to lead the way out.

"Remember, we'll meet up back here after we've done our searches," Wildwing said, looking up at Duke and Tanya who were piloting the Migrator.

"Okay," they replied in unison.

Wildwing nodded and then kick-started the Duck-cycle he and Agnus were on. The Migrator began to move forward towards the exit and Wildwing readied himself for a little stunt he had planned.

"Hang on, Aggie," he said.

Agnus tightened her grip around the drake's middle just as he revved the Duck-cycle's engine. Suddenly the cycle reared up onto it's back wheel and rocketed forward, past the Migrator.

The other Ducks just watched in amazement as they saw the Duck-cycle whiz past them, on one wheel.

Duke wound down the window of the Migrator again and, just before Wildwing and Agnus rounded the corner, yelled out, "Show off!"

There was a faint chuckle from Wildwing before he disappeared around the corner and out of the chute.

Duke pulled himself back into the Migrator and looked at the other Ducks, who all still seemed to be in various stages of surprise.

"She's good for him," Grin said, smiling half amusedly and half sagely.

"Yeah," Nosedive said, half chuckling, "I've never seen Wildwing so… casual."

"_You've_ never seen him like this?" Duke asked, looking back at the younger drake.

Nosedive shook his head.

Duke looked forward again, trying to compute this.

"O-kay," he finally said, just as they neared the chute to exit their underground headquarters and enter the streets of Anaheim.

Wildwing steered the Duck-cycle straight and true down the centre of his lane.

"Anaheim changed any since you were last here, Aggie?" Wildwing asked, looking back at Agnus over his shoulder.

"Not really. Some minor changes. You know, like shops moving and stuff like that," Agnus replied.

Wildwing just nodded.

Just then they passed an alleyway and Wildwing almost caused an accident by slamming on the brakes.

"Oh! Wing!" Agnus said, pushing her helmet up again so that she could see.

"Guys," Wildwing said into his wrist-com.

"We're on our way. We just picked up the teleportation signals now," Duke replied.

"What?" Agnus asked.

"Good. I'm going to get Agnus out of here."

"Good idea. Join us once you've gotten her out of harms way."

With that the communication ended and Wildwing began to turn the Duck-cycle around.

"Wildwing, what's going on here?" Agnus asked.

"I'm getting you out of here. I don't want you getting hurt by a stray laser or puck for that matter," Wildwing replied.

"Dragaunus' goons?"

"You got it."

"Hey! Don't worry about me. You've got a job to do."

"Yes. Getting _you_ out of here."

Agnus rolled her eyes.

"No. Look, Wing, the guys could take forever to get here. You're here _now_," Agnus said.

Wildwing looked back at her over his shoulder.

"I've heard how often you've come close to getting these guys, but haven't. You've got the element of surprise now. Use it!" Agnus said.

"How…," Wildwing started.

"Shiga. She knows just about everything about you guys, including that which _isn't_ hockey related."

Wildwing smiled at Agnus and turned the Duck-cycle back around.

"Just stay low and you should be okay," Wildwing said.

"Gotcha," Agnus replied with a smile.

When they reached the entrance to the alley which the droids and at least one Saurian were down, Wildwing stopped to let Agnus off.

"Go get 'em," Agnus said, as she dismounted.

Wildwing smiled at her before putting on his mask and turning his attention to the job at hand. Meanwhile, Agnus found a place to hide behind some nearby trashcans. Wing revved the engine of the Duck-cycle for a second or two and then… up onto the back wheel, he was off into the alley.

"If nothing else the dude knows how to make an entrance," Agnus said with a slightly amused smile.

It wasn't long before the other Ducks arrived on the scene.

Agnus stayed put behind the trashcans, but cringed every time she heard one of the Saurians cry out in pain or fright.

"They don't hold back," she said with a slightly amused smile.

Suddenly she had an unexpected visitor come crashing down on top of her. She let out a yelp of fright before realising who it was.

"Chameleon!" she exclaimed backing up.

Chameleon pushed himself up and shook his head before looking at Agnus.

"What? You never seen a Saurian before?" he asked, getting up.

Agnus just kept quiet.

At that moment Chameleon had a brilliant idea.

"That'll work," he said, beginning to glow that glittery green he always did before shape shifting.

The Ducks meanwhile were too busy dealing with Siege and Wraith to really bother about where Chameleon had disappeared to.

"Ahem!" Chameleon called from the sidelines in his body builder voice.

The fighting group looked over in his direction and the Ducks froze.

"Let go you over blown lizard!" Agnus growled, trying to free herself from Chameleon's grip.

"What'll it be Ducks?" Chameleon asked, holding Agnus higher.

Siege and Wraith took advantage of the Ducks being distracted and moved over to stand with Chameleon.

Agnus finally stopped struggling and looked towards the Ducks. Wildwing was obviously trying to come up with a plan, as was Duke apparently. The others stood ready to assist. Just then something caught Agnus' eye. Just to the side of the Ducks. Duke, being the most attuned to subtle looks and gestures, picked up that Agnus had seen something.

"So?" Siege asked, enjoying the taunting.

"It's your move, Ducks," Wraith added.

"You're darn right it is!" Duke yelled back at them, darting to the side and picking up a piece of broken drainpipe that was handily in the rough shape of a hockey stick.

Before the Saurian's could realise what was happening, Duke had shot an old can straight at Chameleon's head. Just like he would've a puck. The can collided with Chameleon's noggin. He let out a cry and dropped Agnus.

"Run Aggie!" Wildwing commanded, readying himself to open fire on the Saurians.

Agnus wasted no time and took off towards the Ducks.

Nosedive and Grin moved aside to allow her through.

"Fire!" Wildwing commanded, opening fire on the Saurians.

The other Ducks didn't need a second invitation. A hail storm of pucks suddenly barraged the Saurian trio.

"Ow! Hey! Watch it!" the Saurians protested.

"Let's beat it!" Siege said, pressing the teleport button on his wrist-com.

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Chameleon agreed, pressing his own teleport button.

With that the three disappeared in their typical sparkly green phase-out.

"They'll be back," Wildwing said.

"Natch," Nosedive replied.

Wildwing looked at his team and noticed Duke frowning at him.

"What?" he asked.

"I thought you said you were going to get Agnus outta 'ere," Duke said, arms folded across his chest disapprovingly.

"I was, but…," Wildwing started.

Duke raised an eyebrow at the leader of the team.

"Don't blame Wing, Duke," Agnus said from behind Grin.

Grin moved aside so that the others could see her.

"I told him not to leave as the chances of the Saurians getting away before you guys arrived was too great. If Wing hadn't been here, keeping them busy, you may never have had a chance to capture them," Agnus continued.

Duke looked from Agnus to Wildwing.

"She has a point," Mallory said.

"Hmm, I guess so," Duke replied, not entirely happy with the fact.

Wildwing smiled at the swordsman, as did Agnus.

"So, onward?" Agnus asked.

"Homeward fer you, Sweetheart," Duke said before turning his attention to Wildwing, "We'll continue our patrol, while you drop Agnus here off back at the Pond."

"Okay. Be on your toes team. Those Saurian sleaze buckets might come back quicker than we anticipate," Wildwing said, putting a hand on Agnus' shoulder and beginning to lead her back to where he had parked the Duck-cycle.

"Gotcha," the others replied.

Wildwing smiled at them over his shoulder before climbing aboard the cycle with Agnus behind him. There was a squeal of tyres as he spun the bike around and out of the alley.

The other Ducks watched until he was out of sight and then returned to the Migrator to continue their patrol.

(Author's Note: Sorry about the late update everyone and for the fact that this chapter's so short. My inspiration just up and left me, but I will be making more of an effort for the next installment [due to come out in August]. Until then… Ducks Rock!)


	7. Chapter 7

.Chapter seven.

The next morning found Agnus hard at work, cleaning up the front entrance to the Pond.

"Glad to see that you're cleaning up your act," someone said from behind her before chuckling at his own joke.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Duke. Shouldn't you be at practise?" Agnus asked, while she continued to sweep.

"Only if they miss me."

Agnus rolled her eyes before getting back to work.

"You okay?" Duke asked.

"I wish people would stop asking me that," Agnus replied.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine. It shows you care, but…"

"Say no more. I get where ya comin' from, Kid."

"Thanks, Duke."

"So, when does your shift end?"

"Twelve noon, why?"

Duke opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by his wrist-com.

"Hold that thought," he said, before flipping open his communicator and saying, "Duke here."

"Where are you?! Practice was supposed to start ten minutes ago," Wildwing said irritably.

"I'll be there in two tics, Wing. Just finalizing something," Duke replied.

"Fine. Wildwing out."

With that the transmission was terminated and Duke closed up his wrist-com.

"They're missin' me," he said, looking over at Agnus.

She just smiled amusedly at him and shook her head.

"Anyway, like I was sayin' b'fore Wing interrupted us, ya keen on goin' fer a coffee or somethin' across the way at the mall?" Duke asked.

Agnus looked at him a bit surprised.

"Well?" he asked.

"Um… s-ure. Where do you want me to meet you?" Agnus asked, a bit unsure as to how to take this.

"Migrator hangar. I'll see you at noon then, Sweetheart."

With that, Duke turned and began to make his way through to the rink for practise.

Meanwhile, in the Raptor, Dragaunus was still smouldering about his henchmen's defeat the night before at the hands of the Ducks. It had set his plan back a bit and patience was not one of his strong points.

"So… what now, Boss?" Chameleon dared to ask.

Dragaunus had called them in to issue new orders, but had yet to issue them.

The red giant half turned to look at his underlings. They flinched, but stayed put despite their self-preservation instincts telling them to get out of there on the double.

"Now, Chameleon, you and the others will return to the city to get what I sent you there to get in the first place," Dragaunus replied.

"The Ducks are no doubt expecting us to return," Wraith said.

"True, but… nothing is to keep me from implementing my newest plan. Do you understand?! Nothing!"

The three Saurians gulped, but nodded.

"Now get going and _don't_ return empty handed unless you wish to be sent into dimensional limbo!" Dragaunus growled.

The three disappeared out of the command room with varying 'yes boss' replies.

Dragaunus smirked evilly to himself once the three where gone and returned his attention to the large viewing screen, mulling his plan over and over in his head. Each time smiling more and more evilly.

Twelve noon. Agnus had just gotten off work for lunch and was making her way through to the Migrator hangar to meet up with Duke, but something didn't sound right. Where she expected to hear silence, she heard voices. The sight that met her when she rounded the corner into the hangar solved the mystery.

"Dude, the fact that you _don't_ want to come along makes me think it's _necessary_ for me _to_ come along," Nosedive said, placing his fists on his hips.

"It ain't. So why don't you just _run along_ and play some video games or something?" Duke asked, arms folded across his chest.

"Why don't _you_…"

"Hey guys," Agnus said, skating up to the two drakes.

"Aggie, hey," Duke replied with a smile.

"Hey Girly-Girl," Nosedive replied with a smile and a wave.

"What's with that arguing?"

"Dive wants to come with us," Duke replied.

"Yeah, but _Duke_ doesn't want me anywhere _near_. Now, does that tell you something or what?" Nosedive asked.

Agnus just smiled at Nosedive before looking at Duke who was rolling his eye.

"I told yous _why_, Nosedive," Duke said, narrowing his eye at Dive.

"Pfft. Yeah right, like I'm buyin' that ol' line," Nosedive said.

"What line?" Agnus asked.

"Adults are talkin' an' he'll just get bored," Duke replied.

"Ah, I see. Well, it's his own fault for not listening to you if he _does_ get bored, Duke."

"Yes! The lady _has spoken_, Duke," Nosedive said with a grin.

Duke just narrowed his eye at Nosedive.

"Besides, the comic store's nearby if he wants to leave," Agnus added.

Duke mood took a sudden up turn. This may work in his favour after all.

"You've got a point," he said with a little smile, causing Nosedive to become a little suspicious of him.

"So, whenever you're ready…," Agnus said.

"Right. All right, Dive, hop in."

With that Duke turned and opened the door to the Migrator.

Nosedive sat back in his seat next to Agnus, completely bored out of his skull. Duke wasn't kidding when he said 'adults talking'. If all adults were this boring, Nosedive never wanted to grow up. He checked his watch while Duke droned on about… something to do with angles and his Duck-sabre.

"Uh, I'm just gonna go see how Thrash and Mookie are doing," he said, sliding out from the table.

"Told you you'd get bored," Duke said with a smile.

Nosedive just narrowed his eyes at the swordsman before turning his attention to Agnus.

"Next time, just you an' me, Girly-Girl. I'll show you that the Ducks _know_ how to have fun," Nosedive said with a smile, putting a hand onto Agnus' shoulder.

Agnus couldn't help but chuckle before replying, "Thanks Nosedive. Sounds great."

Nosedive smiled before looking at Duke out of the corner of his eye. The look of utter 'get-outta-'ere-now' on his face was enough of a reward for Nosedive.

"Check ya later," he said, on his way out.

"See ya, Nosedive," Agnus and Duke said in unison.

"I thought he'd never leave," Duke said once Dive was out of the café.

"I had a feeling you were just stalling for time with that long and… sorry I've already forgotten _most_ of what you said," Agnus said.

Duke chuckled before replying, "Not a problem. I'll explain it better next time, with a demonstration perhaps."

"Right. So… what is it that you _really_ wanted to talk with me about?"

"I just wanted to have a good heart-to-heart with you is all and you can't very well have a heart-to-heart when there're _three_ hearts in the area now can you?"

"I suppose not."

"I know you don't like this question, but… how are you? And I really mean _how_ are you?"

Agnus sighed and averted her eyes from Duke's.

"Ags. Heart-to-heart here. I ain't gonna be spillin' anything' ya say ta me if ya don' want me to," Duke said, putting his hand over Agnus'.

She looked him straight in the eye, as if searching for sincerity.

"You _can_ trust me," he said, looking straight back at her.

Agnus sighed once more before nodding and replying, "I'm okay."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah. Sure, being in the Pond is sorta stressful, but…"

Duke squeezed her hand slightly, to let her know that he was there for her.

"Take your time," he said gently.

"But I know it's not permanent. As soon as they find a permanent replacement for their janitor… I'll be outta there and looking for a new job," Agnus replied.

Duke sighed quietly. That wasn't the answer he had wanted to hear.

"You really that keen on gettin' outta 'ere?" he asked.

"It's nothing personal, Duke. You and the others are great, but…," Agnus started before averting her eyes from Duke.

"What is it that makes you so… _dislike_ hockey?" he asked, wanting to get to the core of the problem.

Agnus' demeanour immediately became defensive. She pulled her hand out from under Duke's, sat up taller in her seat, set her shoulders back and looked Duke straight in the eye.

"It's a personal matter, Duke," she said.

"I can see that," he said before making his tone gentler, "Sweetheart, I don't want to cause you discomfort. I want to help you. Phil mentioned that you had gotten into a 'funk' a few years ago regarding hockey. It's why he came to see you, why he's… got you working at the Pond. He wants to help you get out of this. I take it you weren't always against hockey."

Agnus just looked at him.

Duke was about to open his mouth to continue his attempts at cracking this safe, but was interrupted when two masked men burst through the doors to the café.

"All right! Nobody move! This is a hold up!" one of them said, holding a gun level with the patrons' heads.

"Aggie. Down," Duke said in a hushed voice.

"What?" she asked.

"Just do it."

Without further argument, Agnus slipped down under the table, hidden by the solid back of the chair, while Duke contacted Nosedive.

"Now, everybody jus' do as you're told an' ya won't get hoit," the other of the two said.

Duke rose from his seat and stepped into the corridor that ran between the tables.

"'Ey look. It's one o' dem 'Mighty Ducks'," the man said, spying Duke.

"Yeah and, unless you drop the hardware, you'll find out just how _mighty_ we are," Duke said.

The pair of thieves raised their guns and aimed them at Duke. He readied himself to move, but then…

"Excuse me, but it's impolite to _point_," a voice said from behind the two men.

They looked over their shoulders just as Nosedive took hold of the one's shoulders.

"Let's take this outside shall we?!" he asked, throwing the one man out of the café.

The other was already turning to aim his gun at Nosedive, but suddenly found himself being body checked from the café.

"Nice work, Kid," Duke said with a thumbs up.

"Back at ya. They'll let just anything in nowadays, won't they?" Nosedive asked, looking at the pair before them.

"No kidding. Let's help set the standard again."

With that the pair leapt at the two would-be thieves before they could regain their weapons.

The sounds of the brawl were too much for Agnus just to sit under the table and do nothing. Cautiously she came out and looked out the window to see what was happening.

Duke and Nosedive were busy trying to subdue their respective targets, which was proving harder than the pair had anticipated. They were so busy in fact that neither bothered to look when a car door closed behind them.

Another player was about to join the fray and he was armed with the same kind of gun the previous two had had with them.

"Oh no," Agnus gasped before scrabbling out from the table and skating as fast as she could for the exit.

Duke and Nosedive were still oblivious to the fact that they were being positioned by their opponents so that their friend would have a clear shot at them.

The man raised his gun and aimed it at Duke's back. He slowly moved his finger to the trigger, but then…

"Duke! Dive! Behind you!" Agnus yelled.

The pair looked over their shoulders just in time to see Agnus body check their would-be shooter. Their mouths dropped open.

She wasted no time and kicked the gun so that it went skidding under a nearby bench.

"Did you see that?!" Nosedive asked.

"Yeah, but we'll discuss that later. Right now…," Duke said, trailing off as he turned his attention to his opponent.

The man smiled sheepishly, while Duke tightened his grip on his shirt.

"Ca-can't we talk dis over, Guys?" he asked.

"Yeah, perhaps o'er a cup o' cawffee?" the other, who was in Nosedive's grasp, asked.

"Negative Junior," Nosedive replied.

Duke and Dive each let go of their opponents with one hand and used that to deliver a knockout punch.

"Sweet dreams, Jerk-weed," Nosedive said, dusting his hands off.

"Think she needs our help?" Duke asked, looking to where Agnus was apparently playing goalie.

"Against _that_ hockey puck?"

At that moment the man made a dash for the bench, but Agnus intercepted him with a round house kick to the chest, which sent him reeling back.

"Naa. I think she's got it under control," Nosedive replied with a smile.

Duke smiled slightly too, but then, as he looked at Agnus again, his expression turned more serious.

At that moment, Captain Klegghorn arrived on the scene.

"Alright! What's going on here?!" he yelled.

The man who had tried to shoot Duke took one look at Klegghorn and took off running.

"Hey! Get back here!" Klegghorn yelled.

"I got 'im, Captain," Agnus said, quickly skating after the felon before Klegghorn could object.

"Where do you want these two?" Duke asked, holding his ex-opponent up by the collar of his shirt.

Nosedive stood next to him with his own ex-opponent in hand.

Meanwhile, Agnus was closing in on her target.

"If only I had a stick. I'd be able to…," she started before noticing a store, which just happened to have a display out front of hockey related items. Among which was a stick.

"Mind if I borrow this? Thanks!" she called to the shop owner, as she picked the stick up and continued her chase.

She sped up to be within a few feet of her quarry and then, using the hockey stick, tripped him up.

The man hit the ground with an 'oof!' and a thud.

Agnus came to a skidding stop and skated back to the dazed man.

"Two minutes for tripping. Worth it though," Agnus said, looking down at the man.

He just scowled up at her.

At that moment the police arrived in their squad cars.

"Nicely done, Miss," Captain Klegghorn said, while his officers saw to putting the dazed man into one of the cars.

"Thanks. Now, if you'll excuse me, Captain. I believe I had better get this back to it's owner," Agnus said, tapping the stick against her hand.

"Quite right. Miss." Klegghorn nodded politely.

"Captain." Agnus nodded back.

Klegghorn couldn't help but smile before turning to oversee the arrest.

Agnus smiled too before beginning to skate back the way she had come, but came to an abrupt stop when she almost skated into two other skaters.

"So playing dirty _can_ be useful sometimes," Nosedive said with a smile.

Agnus just shrugged and smiled at Nosedive.

"You handle that thing like a pro… much like your body check," Duke said.

Again, Agnus just shrugged, but her smile had disappeared.

"Come clean, Aggie. You can't perform those moves without some prior hockey experience. _On ice_ experience," Duke continued.

"Whoa. Hey, Duke, lighten up. Ags may just be a natural," Nosedive said, sensing the tension between the two.

"Even a natural player ain't _that_ good without some training, Dive," Duke said.

Nosedive sighed.

"Aggie," Duke started.

"Thanks for coffee, Duke, but my lunch break is about to end and… I gotta get back to the Pond. So if you don't mind…," Agnus said, skating past the two Ducks.

Duke twisted his mouth in irritation, but left it at that. He turned and began to skate after Agnus with Nosedive close behind him.

Back at the Pond, Wildwing was hearing it all from Duke and Nosedive.

"I'm telling you, Wing, those were professional moves! There's _no way_ she could have performed them so well _unless_ she was trained. Her body checking, goal keeping and even tripping skills aren't raw. They're honed," Duke said.

"I see," Wildwing said, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "And… what does this have to do with anything?"

Duke looked deflated.

Nosedive chuckled quietly before putting a hand onto Duke's shoulder and saying, "Duke's just a little upset that Ags is holdin' out on 'im is all, Wing."

"Is that what the whole going out for coffee thing was for? To get Agnus to tell you _why_ she dislikes hockey so?" Wildwing asked.

"Sort of. Hence why I didn't want a tag-along," Duke said, looking at Nosedive out of the corner of his eye. Well, at least trying to seeing as Dive was on his 'bad' side.

"Hey!" Nosedive protested.

"Duke, she hasn't even been here a whole day. Give her a chance to settle in will you?"

"I'm sorry, Wildwing. It's just… this secret's driving me mad! It's like a safe. One I just gotta crack."

"Typical," said a voice from the door.

The three looked to see Mallory and the others walking up to them.

"You _would_ think like that wouldn't you?" Mallory continued.

Duke just narrowed his eye at her.

"Alright you two. Ease off," Wildwing said, stepping in before the pair really got going.

"Still no closer then?" Tanya asked.

"Not in the least," Duke replied.

"Though we know she _may_ have actually played hockey when she was younger," Nosedive said.

"Really? How do you figure?" Mallory asked.

"You should have seen her body check this guy earlier."

"Pro style," Duke added.

"You don't say," Mallory said, interestedly.

"Yeah. Her goalie skills aren't something to be sneezed at either," Nosedive replied.

The rest of the team just looked over at Wildwing, who put his hands up in front of him.

"I didn't see anything. Dive and Duke just got back and… have been telling me what happened at the café," he said.

"So _that's_ what the coffee thing was about," Mallory said, putting two and two together.

"Pretty much. I wanted a heart-to-heart with Ags. Hopin', apparently hopelessly, that she'd open up a little about this secret of hers," Duke said.

"Ah-ha. Well, I think you _possibly_ just lost your chance to gain her trust any time _soon_, Duke."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"And what makes _you_ so sure?"

"I'm a woman, just like her, and I sure as anything wouldn't trust you with any personal secrets."

"Oh! Is _that_ what you are. Well, you had me fooled, Mal."

Mallory's mouth dropped open, aghast at the audacity Duke had to say that. She snarled and ran her hands up her arms in turn as if she was rolling up her sleeves before beginning to stalk towards Duke.

Wildwing groaned inwardly and secretly wondered why his team couldn't just get along like the teams he saw on T.V.

Duke just stood his ground. He was in no mood for Mallory's trust issues regarding him and he didn't need anyone putting thoughts in his head that someone else wouldn't trust him for the same reasons.

"Whoa! T-out, Ducks," Nosedive said in a semi-hushed voice, coming between the two team mates, "Someone's coming."

"It won't be Aggie. She only gets off work late," Duke said.

The footsteps that Nosedive had heard were getting closer to the door of the command room.

The doors opened and the Ducks looked to see who it was.

"Hey," Phil said with a smile.

"Phil, what brings you down here?" Wildwing asked.

"Agnus told me about the hold up at the café today. I just came by to see how Duke and Nosedive were."

The Ducks collectively raised an eyebrow at their manager.

"You're actually concerned for our well being?" Duke asked.

"Of course. You've got a game tonight. I don't need my team down a Duck now do I?" Phil asked.

The Ducks just smiled amusedly. Phil was still Phil.

"That and… I had to make it sound legit for Ags. What I'm really down here for is… I wanted to say 'thank you' to Duke."

"Thank you?" Duke asked.  
"Yes. Ags _also_ told me how you had tried to get info out of her about why she's against hockey."

"Did she discuss her problem with you?" Duke asked hopefully.

"Ha. You kidding? No. Ags doesn't discuss it. She says what's done is done. Talking about it just brings back the pain. She prefers to just leave it in the past and get on with her life." Phil paused as he thought about his niece. "Some life."

"Why do you say that?" Wildwing asked.

"I guess I can tell you seeing as she already suspects that you know about her previously playing hockey. You see… Ags' dream, when she was a little girl, was to become a professional ice hockey player. She'd practice harder than any kid I knew. I guess having access to the Pond to practice in _did_ give her an edge."

"Wait. She had _access_ to the _Pond_?" Duke asked.

"Whoops. Heh. Guess I've said too much. Look, point is, you know she played hockey and loved it and now… she hates it," Phil said, turning to leave before he said anything else he wasn't supposed to.

"The _why_ is still missing though, Phil. _Why_ doesn't she like hockey?"

"I can't say, okay?! Agnus would have my head."

"Why?!" the Ducks asked in unison.

"_Because_… people don't understand. I understand. Tat and Shig understand. _Some_ of the other hockey players understand, but… generally… people don't. They just tell her to 'suck it up' or 'get over it', but she can't. Not that easily. You're gonna _really_ have to get to know her and gain her trust before she lets you in on that part of her life. Hence why I came to say thanks to Duke. I appreciate that he's trying to help her. We all want our Aggie back… and the only way to get her back is… to get her to like hockey again. To pick up a stick, put on a pair of ice skates and get back out on the ice. I've already said _way_ too much. Don't tell Aggie I told you all this okay? Please… I'm still trying to gain her trust again after I blurted this thing out at a social gathering."

"We won't, Phil. Thank _you_ for sharing what you have with us. We know our mission now," Wildwing said.

"Thanks Wildwing. I really do appreciate it."

With that Phil turned and made his way out of the command room.

"Well, we're a third of the way there. She picked up a stick today," Nosedive said with a smile.

"What could've happened to make someone, who was hockey mad, anti-hockey?" Duke asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't know, but we'll get to the bottom of it… in time. Right now though, we have to practice for tonight's game," Wildwing said.


	8. Chapter 8

.Chapter eight.

Later that evening, after the fans had gone home, Agnus began to make her way back to the Ducks' HQ. It had been a tiresome day for her. First, the hold up at the café. Next… who knew hockey fans were so messy?! Not to mention, Duke's probing earlier that day too.

"What a day," she said to herself, as she keyed in the password for the elevator that went down to the HQ like Wildwing had showed her.

The doors opened and Agnus was surprised by what she found inside.

"Hey," she and Wildwing said in unison.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was about to come find you," Wildwing replied, stepping aside to let Agnus into the elevator.

"Find me?"

"Yeah. I wanted to let you know that we saved you some dinner so… you don't have to go out and find something."

"Oh, uh thanks."

"You're welcome."

With that Wildwing pressed the button to close the doors and return to the subterranean HQ.

An awkward silence settled between the team captain and the janitor.

"Good game tonight," Agnus said, breaking the ice.

"Thanks. How'd you know?" Wildwing asked.

"Promise you won't tell the others?"

"You have my word. Go on."

Agnus smiled at Wildwing before saying, "There's not exactly _much_ to do while the game's on for a janitor once you've done what needs to be done so… I came and watched a bit."

Wildwing just smiled.

"Four-three's pretty good," Agnus said.

"Thanks. We thought so too," Wildwing replied with a smile.

Just then the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Wildwing began to head for the kitchen.

"I'm just going to change out of these clothes, Wildwing," Agnus said, beginning to head for her room.

"Okay. I'll get your dinner ready then," Wildwing replied, continuing on his way.

Agnus just smiled and nodded at him before disappearing down the corridor which led to the quarters.

When Agnus arrived at the kitchen, in a clean set of clothes, she found Wildwing just taking a plate from the microwave.

"That looks better," he said, looking at her.

"Thanks," Agnus said with a smile.

"Not that you can't make a pair of overalls look attractive though."

Agnus couldn't help but chuckle at the comment.

"Are you trying to flirt with me, Wildwing?" she asked, sitting down on the bar stool that Wing had pulled out for her by the kitchen counter.

Wildwing chuckled as he pushed the chair in for Agnus.

"Thank you," Agnus said.

"No problem and no. I'm _not_ trying to flirt with you. I'm just trying to give you a compliment," he replied, taking a seat across from her and gently cupping his hands around a mug of coffee that he had prepared for himself.

"That's very sweet of you. Thanks."

"My pleasure."

With that Aggie took a fork full of pasta.

"Hmm. Who's the chef?" she asked, after swallowing her mouthful.

"Grin. He's sort of become the resident chef. With Duke, Nosedive and myself coming up behind him," Wildwing replied before taking a sip of coffee.

"Wow. I'm impressed."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to hear so."

"What about Tanya and Mallory? Don't they cook?"

Wildwing smiled amusedly at the thought before replying, "They cook, but generally the guys prefer to call take-out then."

"Ah. I see."

"Yeah. Heh."

"Even you?"

"I… have my limits."

Agnus couldn't help but chuckle at the comment.

"I'm interested in seeing how the rest of you cook then," she said while twirling the pasta around her fork.

"You're in luck then. Duke's cooking tomorrow and Nosedive the next day. Though, frankly, we tend to call out on Dive's days too," Wildwing replied.

"Why?"

"Because… he tends to glance at the recipe book then close it and uh… carry on from there. On memory and… Dive's memory when it comes to recipes… can be quite startling. Especially if you know what he was planning on."

Agnus giggled and Wildwing smiled. He was glad that the two of them seemed to be getting off on the right foot.

The next few days were reasonably peaceful for the Ducks. No games, no photo shoots, no public appearances and no trouble from Dragaunus, which was causing some tension amongst the Ducks. Wildwing, particularly, was getting more and more concerned. Questions like 'what was Dragaunus up to?', 'when will he strike next and where?' were buzzing around in his head. Not only did he have to lead and protect his team, he also felt responsible for the protection of the world.

The team captain let out a weary sigh while he sat pondering just such monstrous things at the kitchen counter.

"Penny for?" a voice asked behind him.

Wildwing, surprised to be addressed, looked back and smiled when he saw Agnus skating in.

"Hey Aggie," he said.

"Hey. You okay?" she asked, pulling up a bar stool and taking a seat next to the lead Duck.

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"About?"

"Nothing to worry about."

Agnus just smiled at Wildwing.

"What?" he asked.

"I may not have been here _long_, Wing, but… I know when something's troubling you. You've been getting quieter and quieter and I'm told that's not normal," Agnus replied.

"You got an insider on my usual behaviour?"

"Something like that. Uh… a concerned _brother_."  
"Nosedive."

"Yeah. He's been coming to talk to me during the day when he has nothing else to do."

"You been putting him to work?"

"Not yet."

Wildwing just smiled. He knew how quickly Nosedive would be out of there if Aggie so much as mentioned the idea of him helping clean up the Pond.

"If he starts getting in the way then I'll hand him a broom," Agnus said with a smile.

"Good," Wildwing said.

"Well, I best be getting back to work. I just came down to see how you were."

"Let me guess… Dive."

"On the beak, Wing. Take care of yourself, hey, and… if you need to talk…"

Wildwing smiled at Agnus and merely nodded his reply.

"Good," Agnus said.

With that she gave the lead Duck a pat on the back and then took her leave.

Once she was out, Wildwing couldn't help but smile to himself. He and Agnus were fast becoming good friends. She was becoming friendly with the rest of the team too, but he and she seemed to share a unique bond.

The Pond was quiet that evening. Nosedive had gone with Grin, Thrash and Mookie to some party or other that Thrash knew about. Mallory had gone off for some last minute shopping. Tanya hadn't even returned from her excursion to Lectric Land yet. Wildwing was starting to wonder if he should contact her, to make sure she was still okay. And finally Duke… well, no one was quite sure _where_ Duke was. He had disappeared early that morning and had yet to return. Another for Wildwing's call list.

Wildwing himself was the only Duck still at the Pond, as far as he knew.

Suddenly he was pulled from his thoughts when a voice spoke up.

"See ya tomorrow, Aggie," Phil said.

"See ya, Uncle Phil. Drive carefully," Agnus' voice replied.

Wildwing smiled. He was getting tired of being on his own.

"Will do."

Wildwing heard the elevator doors close and he knew that Phil was out. He got up from his seat and walked over to the entrance of the room to meet up with Aggie.

"Hey," he said with a smile, leaning against the door frame.

"Oh! Hey," Agnus replied with a smile. Surprised to see the older of the Flashblade brothers.

"Finished for tonight?"

"Yeah. It goes quickly when there're no fans to clean up after."

Wildwing just nodded, while Agnus continued in the general direction of her room.

"Where're the others?" she asked.

"Out. Dive and Grin have gone to a party, Tanya's still at Lectric Land, Mallory's headed off to the mall and Duke… I'm not sure where he is," Wildwing replied, activating his own skates and skating after Agnus.

"I see. Um, if you'll excuse me, Wildwing, I'm just going to get changed out of these."

"Sure. You… want some coffee or something? I can make it while you change."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you. Thanks."

Wildwing chuckled quietly as he watched Agnus skate off down a corridor. Once she was out of sight he began to make his way through to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, across at the local library, Duke was neck high in books. He had pulled just about every book on hockey history out from the shelves and was paging through them. His usually only slightly tousled plume was a real sight. He looked like he had been pulled through a bush backwards. He also looked tired. He was having to prop his head up with his hand. He sighed as he closed yet another coverless old book and checked his watch.

"Gettin' on fer time," he said.

He looked at the piles of books around him and was suddenly regretting not putting them back once he had been done with them.

He let out an irritable sigh before getting up and heading out of the library. He hated leaving a mess, but… he was just _way_ too tired to really care right now.

When Duke arrived back at the Pond, he found Wildwing and Agnus chatting in the kitchen.

"Well, well, well. The weary traveller returns," Agnus said, looking in the dishevelled swordsman's direction.

He just groaned a response before taking a seat on the bar stool next to her.

"Coffee?" Wildwing asked.

"Yeah. _Strong_," Duke replied, feeling very much worse for wear.

Wildwing nodded before turning to make the 'order'.

"I wasn't being cute when I made that 'weary' remark, Duke. You okay?" Agnus asked, putting a hand onto his shoulder.

"Yeah. Just tired. Paging through book after book seems ta do that ta ya," he replied, rubbing his eyes.

"Books?"

"Where were you?" Wildwing asked, pouring the coffee.

"The library. I… I was doing some research. Thanks," Duke said, as Wildwing handed him the cup.

"Research?"

"On what?" Agnus asked.

Duke took a sip before replying, "Nothin' in particular."

Agnus and Wildwing looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"Okay," Agnus said, "What did you find then?"

"That the library has _way_ too many dusty books," Duke replied before taking another sip of coffee and getting up. "If you two will excuse me. I'm jus' gonna head through to my room."

"Sure thing, Duke," Wildwing replied.

Duke nodded his thanks and then took his leave.

Agnus, frowning slightly, watched him leave.

"Penny for?" Wildwing asked, mimicking Agnus' line from earlier that day.

"Huh? Oh," Agnus said smiling slightly, "Nothing, Wing."

"Now you're doing it. We both know that Duke wasn't just looking through random old books… and _I_ know that you weren't frowning at nothing. Now spill."

"Okay. Okay. I know better than to take a goalie on in a one-on-one."

Wildwing just smiled, though he did wonder what had happened in her hockey past. Both good and bad.

"Well?" he pressed when she didn't continue.

"I just have my suspicions about Duke okay? Nothing super personal on his part, just… he tends to probe a bit too much for his own good into my _own_ personal information," Agnus replied.

"Ah. I see. … _Would_ he find anything about you in the library?"

Agnus looked at Wildwing and he could see that she was starting to get bristly.

"Just wondering," he said with a shrug.

"I don't know to be honest," she replied.

"Well, obviously he didn't find anything as he would have been in much higher spirits if he had."

"True."

The pair then lapsed into a companionable silence, but it didn't last long.

"You free this evening?" Wildwing asked suddenly.

Agnus looked at the team captain a bit surprised by the question.

"Well?" Wildwing pressed when Agnus didn't respond.

"Uh, yeah. I'm free. Why?" she asked.

"I was just wondering if you'd like to come for another ride on the Duckcycle with me. Hopefully this time without any Saurians."

"Uh… sure. I'd love to."

"Great. When you're done with that we'll go."

Agnus smiled at him, but, deep down, she was suspicious of his intentions. Especially since they had been talking about her 'secret' past.

The roads were reasonably quiet when Wildwing and Agnus got out. The sun was almost completely set giving the city a beautiful red glow.

"Nice night," Wildwing said, weaving between a pair of cars before over taking them.

"Yeah," Agnus replied.

"You okay?"

"Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're… sort of being short with me and I know that when you're being short with people… something's not right. So what's up?"  
"I'm sorry, Wing. I didn't mean to it's just…"

At that moment Wildwing spied a parking on the side of the road and pulled into it. He cut the motor and looked over his shoulder at his passenger.

"Yes?" he asked.

Agnus sighed before getting off and moving around to the front of the Duckcycle to speak with the drake.

"Could you remove the mask? It… makes you look rather intimidating," Agnus said with a smile.

"Sure," Wildwing replied, taking his mask off before returning his attention to the girl before him. "So, what's the problem?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but… what are your intentions for this little outing?"

Wildwing was a little taken aback by the question.

"Intentions?" he asked.

"Yeah," Agnus replied.

"Um… _define_?"

"_Fact_ finding, just because, that sort of thing."

"Oh! Oh, no. I just thought a ride would do you good. Get your mind off of things."

"Right."

Wildwing could see that Agnus wasn't totally buying his story, even though it was true. He reached out and took her hand in his.

"Agnus, what happened in your past is _your_ business. Not mine. Not Duke's and _not_ any of the other Ducks' either. Duke…," Wildwing sighed, he wasn't sure if he should say what Duke had said a few days ago or not.

"Duke?" Agnus asked.

"Duke said that your secret was like a safe that he just _had_ to crack."

"Hmm."

"Don't hold it against him though. I… guess he still has some elements from his _own_ past to get past."

"I don't think it's that, Wildwing. I think Duke just likes solving difficult puzzles. Cracking safes is just a really big and illegal puzzle."

"You've got a point there."

"How about this? I'll buy him a Rubik's Cube and he can try to fathom _that_ out."

Wildwing chuckled.

"You could try," he said.

Agnus just smiled at him.

"Glad to see you're feeling more at ease, Ags," Wildwing said.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I suspected you like that, Wing," Agnus said.

Wildwing just shrugged. "Water off a duck's back," he said, earning a giggle from Agnus, "Let's get going shall we?"

"Sure," Agnus replied, moving back around to behind Wildwing and getting back on.

Not too far from where Wildwing and Agnus had pulled over, Dragaunus' henchmen were just finishing up a raid on a cosmetics shop.

"Who woulda thought that humans liked to put such hazardous chemicals all over themselves," Chameleon said, reading the ingredients on the back of a particular hair product.

"They are strange creatures indeed, Chameleon," Wraith replied.

"Shh! Someone's comin'," Siege said, hearing the familiar sound of the Duckcycle approaching.

He carefully made his way out of the alley towards the road and peeked around the corner.

"It's Wildwing," he said, spying the lead duck coming down the road.

"Let's get outta here fast then," Chameleon said, reaching for his transporter.

"Wait up. I'm gonna make sure _this_ duck doesn't give us any more trouble… ever."

Siege pulled out his trusty hand-blaster and aimed it at the spot right between the lead duck's eyes. He was about to squeeze the trigger when a car cut in front of Wildwing.

"Blast!" Siege swore.

"Veered off?" Chameleon asked.

"Negative. Interference, but don't worry. He's still comin' this way."

Siege waited, as concealed as he could be behind the alley wall, until Wildwing came into view.

"Gotcha," Siege said, when Wildwing came into his sights.

He squeezed the trigger. The shot fired, but missed it's target. Instead it got Agnus in the side of her helmet, the force of the blast threw her from the back of the Duckcycle to the road.

"Agnus!" Wildwing exclaimed, spinning the Duckcycle around.

"Blast! Missed!" Siege said.

"Forget about the duck, Siege. We've got to get back to Dragaunus with these supplies," Wraith said.

"Yeah. What he wants with this junk is beyond me though," Chameleon said.

With that the Saurians transported out of the alley way and back to the Raptor.

Meanwhile though, Wildwing had abandoned the Duckcycle and was kneeling next to Agnus.

"Aggie!" he exclaimed, trying to get a response from her, "Aggie!"


	9. Chapter 9

.Chapter nine.

Wildwing stood staring at the still unconscious human who was now laying on a bed in the infirmary. He sighed just before a hand was put onto his shoulder. Looking in the direction of the owner he found Mallory standing beside him.

"It wasn't your fault, Wildwing," she said.

"Yes it was," he replied, returning his gaze to Agnus, who was being tended to by Tanya.

"No it wasn't. Tanya's examined Agnus' helmet and found a scorch mark on it that she says was caused by a blaster like the ones the Saurians use."

"Which means they were either aiming for me and missed or aiming at Agnus because she was _with_ me. The Saurians know how to get to us! Take out a friend and…" Wildwing couldn't continue. He was just thankful that nothing worse had happened to Agnus. The paramedics who had arrived on the scene before the others had, had said she would be okay when she came around. All she would have would be a severe headache.

At that moment, Duke, Nosedive and Grin walked in.

"How's she doing?" Duke asked, looking over at Tanya.

"Okay as can be expected I guess," Tanya replied.

Duke nodded before looking at Wildwing.

"How are _you_ holdin' up?" he asked.

Wildwing just nodded.

"Chill, Bro. Tanya's the best medic we know. She'll take care of Aggie," Nosedive said, earning himself a smile from Tanya.

"I know, Baby Bro, but… I can't help but think that… if I _just_ hadn't taken her out for that drive…," Wildwing started.

"Hey! You were just doing what you do best. Being a 'big brother' an' tryin' ta help her out. I may have been wrecked when I came home earlier, Wing, but… I saw that frown on Ags' face before I left the kitchen. She had suspicions that I was trying to look up her past in the library. Now I _know_ that I _may_ be able to find _something_ there."

"Duke!" Wildwing reprimanded.

"Sorry. Point is, you did the right thing. It's not your fault she got hurt," Duke replied.

Wildwing averted his eyes from Duke's and then looked at Agnus. She was still out cold.

"We've notified Phil as to what's happened too, just so you know," Duke said.

"Right. The sooner he finds out the better," Wildwing replied, beginning to head over to Agnus' bedside.

The others just looked at their leader as he pulled up a chair and took a seat next to the bed. It was obvious that he still felt responsible and no amount of talking otherwise from them would change that.

Tanya took one last look at her leader and the unconscious human before taking her leave of the bedside and beginning to approach the others.

"Let's give them some time alone," she said quietly, gently ushering the group out.

The others nodded in agreement and then took their leave.

The Ducks' base was in darkness except for one small 'nightlight' in the infirmary where Wildwing was still at his post next to Agnus, his arms crossed and resting on the bed and his head resting on his arms while he slept. Phil had stormed into the infirmary earlier with the others behind him, but his fury evaporated when he saw Wildwing asleep at his post next to Agnus. Now everyone was peacefully asleep and resting. Wildwing's eyes fluttered open when he heard someone breathing rapidly near him. Looking up sleepily, he saw no-one, but then saw that it was in fact Agnus. She looked like she was having a bad dream.

Wildwing reached out his hand and gently set it on Agnus' forehead.

"Shhh," he hushed quietly, "It's okay. It's okay."

He gently stroked her head until her breathing returned to a steady pace and then smiled to himself. He remembered the days when he used to do that to Nosedive. He still had to every now and then, but those times were getting less and less as the young drake got older.

Once he was sure that Agnus was settled, he settled himself back in his seat and, not even a minute later, fell asleep.

It was well into the next day when Agnus awoke with a start.

"O-oh. Welcome back to the land of the living," Duke said, while he turned the page in his magazine.

"Duke?" Agnus asked between her rapid breathes.

"That's my name," he replied looking at her and setting his magazine down, "How you feeling?"

Agnus took a moment to take inventory of her physical and mental state.

"Woozy and confused. What… what…," she started, beginning to look like she was going to faint.

"Relax, Aggie, relax. I'm 'ere. Jus' lie back down," Duke said, gently laying her down again and covering her with the blanket.

"What happened?" Agnus finally managed to ask.

"You were shot in the head with a laser we think."

Agnus' eyes went wide as she heard the news.

"Good thing you were wearing a helmet," Duke said with a smile.

"No kidding. Wait! Where's Wildwing?! Is he…?!" Agnus started, but stopped when Duke put a firm, but reassuring hand onto her shoulder.

"He's fine. Just a bit shook up because of what happened ta ya," Duke replied.

"Okay."

Duke just smiled at the girl before him, glad to see that she had settled back down.

"So… how long am I going to be bed bound?" Agnus asked.

"Until Tanya gives ya the green light," Duke replied.

Agnus just nodded at the explanation.

"You want me to call Wildwing in?" Duke asked.

"Yeah. If you don't mind, Duke," Agnus replied with a smile.

"Not in the least."

With that Duke took his leave to find the leader of the Ducks.

It wasn't long before Wildwing came in at a very brisk walk with Duke a few yards behind him.

"Hey," Agnus said with a smile when she caught sight of the lead Duck.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked, coming to a stop at her bedside and taking her hand into his. It was obvious that he was nervous.

"I'm fine, Wing. Chill… that should be easy for you being an _ice_ _skater_ and all."

Wildwing couldn't help but smile. He was glad to see Agnus as her normal self.

"Told ya she was fine," Duke said, walking in.

"Yeah. Thanks Duke. I appreciate you coming to get me," Wildwing said, turning to look at the older drake.

Duke waved it off and smiled, "Not a problem, Wing. I'll uh… just leave you two alone then."

Wildwing just nodded and smiled appreciatively.

Duke nodded and smiled back before taking his leave.

"So," Wildwing started, turning back to face Agnus, "You planning on getting up anytime soon?"

"Haven't seen Tanya yet. Duke said she'd be telling me when I can get moving again and, if there's one thing I know, you don't mess with a medic."

Wildwing smiled and pulled up the chair he had been using earlier that morning.

"True," he said, sitting down.

"Are you okay?" Agnus asked, tightening her grip on Wildwing's hand.

"I'm fine. Totally and completely. You're the one who got shot."

"So Duke tells me. Wow. Something I can cross off of the old 'been-there-done-that' list."

Wildwing just shook his head and smiled at the girl before him.

"Why didn't you _tell me_ she was _awake_?!" came Phil's voice suddenly from the passageway.

"'Cause she _just_ woke up, Phil. I'd just fetched Wildwing for 'er when you arrived," Duke replied, just as he followed Phil into the infirmary.

"Fetched him? I thought he was sitting by her bedside."

Agnus' eyes widened when she heard her uncle's comment, while Wildwing cringed slightly.

Agnus looked at Wildwing, but before she could ask him what Phil was talking about, said uncle entered the room.

"Aggie! How're you feeling?" he asked, briskly walking around to her other side and taking her hand in both of his.

"I'm fine, Uncle Phil. Just fine," Agnus replied, while Wildwing released her hand and stepped back from the bed.

"I'll leave you two alone then," he said, turning to leave.

"Okay, but… I want a word with you later, Mr. Team Captain," Agnus replied, looking at the lead Duck half suspiciously and half admirably.

Wildwing just smiled knowingly and nodded his agreement before taking his leave.

"What do you want to talk with him about?" Phil asked.

"Just something. Nothing to worry yourself about, Uncle Phil," Agnus replied with a smile.

"Okay. I actually wanted to talk with _you_ about something too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. We've… found a permanent janitor."

Agnus' eyes widened slightly in surprise hearing the news, but then nodded understandingly.

A few hours later, the Ducks were on the rink practicing when Phil came out of the locker room on his way through to his office. Wildwing caught sight of the manager and held his hands up to call a time out.

"Time out, Team! I'll be right back," Wildwing said, skating over to the side of the rink closest to Phil.

Phil seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the Ducks had noticed him. That is until…

"Phil!" Wildwing called from down on the rink.

Phil looked just in time to see the lead Duck hopping over the boards to come up to him.

"What's up, Bubala?" Phil asked, while Wildwing made his way up to him.

"I just wanted to ask you how Ags was doing," Wildwing replied somewhat quietly as he neared the manager.

Phil smiled at the lead Duck before replying, "She's fine. Glad that she won't be cleaning up any more."

"What?"

"We've got a new permanent janitor. She's been relieved of duty. Now, if you'll excuse me, Wildwing, I've got some things to see to."

With that Phil continued on his way through to his office.

"B-but what about Aggie?! What's she going to do for a job?" Wildwing asked after the team manager.

"I'm sorry, Wildwing, but I don't have time to explain. Aggie'll explain everything when you go to talk to her after practice. Ciao."

At that moment Phil disappeared around the corner and left Wildwing, his shoulders sagging by an inch or so, alone in the corridor.

"Wildwing! We getting back to practice or what?" Duke asked, pulling Wildwing from his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Yes. Coming," Wildwing replied, though his mind wasn't exactly on practicing right now.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Anaheim, deep within the Raptor, Dragaunus was finishing up taking inventory of the previous night's raid.

"So, dat's everything right, Boss?" Chameleon asked hopefully.

"Not quite. We still need a few _key_ ingredients," Dragaunus replied, looking at the clipboard he held in his claws.

"Such as?" Siege asked.

Dragaunus stroked his chin thoughtfully before a sinister smile crept onto his face. His white fangs glinting in the sparse lighting of the room giving him an even more evil look.

"Boss?" Chameleon asked. He wasn't too fond of Dragaunus not responding like that.

Dragaunus turned and looked at this three henchmen. They shrunk back from him.

"Siege," he started casually.

"Yes," Siege replied cautiously.

"Have you figured out what I'm planning yet or not?"

"No, Sir."

"Who _could_ figure out why you wanted human cosmetic products, unless you're thinkin' of startin' up your own beauty parlour," Chameleon said, instantly regretting what he had just said when Dragaunus gave him a cold glare.

"Very true, Chameleon," Dragaunus said, choosing to ignore the comment, "If not even my own _henchmen_ can figure out what I'm planning…"

"How can the Ducks," Wraith finished for him, realising his leader's truly brilliant scheme.

"Precisely."


	10. Chapter 10

.Chapter ten.

After a somewhat disjointed practice, particularly on Wildwing's part, the Ducks went their separate ways. Wildwing was trying not to seem too eager to get back to Agnus, but was finding it a difficult thing to do.

It was only him and Nosedive in the elevator when they made their way back to their underground headquarters. When the doors opened, Nosedive didn't move.

"Go for it, Bro," he said with a smile.

"Huh?" Wildwing asked.

"Come on. You've been itching to get back to Aggie ever since you spoke to Phil. I'm giving you permission to race off. Now _go_!"

Wildwing couldn't help but smile at his little brother and ruffled his hair.

"Thanks, Baby Bro," he said before racing out of the elevator for the infirmary.

Nosedive couldn't help but smile and shake his head at his older brother before exiting the elevator himself and making his way through to the kitchen. Practice always gave him a major case of the munchies.

Wildwing skidded into the infirmary to find Agnus sitting up in her bed.

"Hey," she said with a smile.

"Hey," he replied, also with a smile as he walked up to her.

"Everything okay?"

"Of course. Now," Wildwing sat down on the edge of the bed, "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well… are you sure everything's okay? You look… _harassed_ about something."

"I'll let you have your say and then I'll have mine."

"O-kay."

"So?"

Agnus thought for a moment how best to ask her question while Wildwing waited patiently.

"What did Uncle Phil mean when he said that you had been sitting at my bedside?" she asked at last.

"You didn't ask him this?" Wildwing asked.

"No. We got onto _other_ topics and it sort of went out of my head. Besides… I wanted it straight for the Duck's beak, so to speak."

Wildwing couldn't help but smile amusedly as he averted his eyes from Agnus'.

"So?" she pressed.

Wildwing sighed before continuing, "I sat by your bedside throughout the night and for some part of the morning before being ousted by Tanya and Duke to go have breakfast and to get some real sleep. I felt responsible for what happened to you and… I guess I just wanted to be near to you should you need me."

It was Agnus' turn to smile, but she wasn't amused. She was impressed and somewhat touched by the lead Duck's reply.

"Thank you," she said.

"It wasn't a problem," Wildwing replied with a smile.

Agnus just smiled back at him.

"Is… that all?" Wildwing asked, his questions eating away at him.

"Yeah. What's on your mind, Wildwing?" Agnus asked.

"Phil told me that you had been relieved from your position as janitor."

"Yeah."

"And… you're not concerned about finding other work?"

Agnus looked a bit surprised.

"Uncle Phil didn't tell you?" she asked.

"He said you'd explain. He was in a rush to get to his office," Wildwing replied.

"That's just like Uncle Phil."

"True, but, please, the explanation."

"Right. Uncle Phil relieved me of janitor work, but has had me sign a contract to be his personal assistant."

Wildwing just looked at Agnus, while the info sunk in.

"His… personal… assistant?" he asked with a smile beginning to tug at the corners of his beak.

"Yeah. He reckons I know enough about you Ducks and hockey in general to be a reasonably helpful assistant to him," Agnus replied with a smile.

"That's great! So you'll be staying on at the Pond then."

"Pretty much, unless you guys would _like_ me to leave. I'm sure I could find…"

"No! No, we don't want you to leave," Wildwing said, interrupting Agnus and taking her hand in both of his.

"Good. 'Cause, to be honest,… I've grown quite fond of you Ducks. Despite _someone's_ probing."

Wildwing smiled and tightened his grip on Agnus' hands.

"And we've grown fond of you too, Aggie," he said.

"Thanks, Wing."

The pair just smiled at each other.

The next day, the Ducks were in the kitchen each getting their own breakfasts when…

"Okay. I need some _honest_ opinions," Agnus said, walking in, Tanya had released her from the infirmary the previous evening, "Does this look ridiculous or what?"

The Ducks looked and were surprised to find their usually very casually house mate in a very smart grey and green outfit.

"Wow," was all Duke, Wildwing and Nosedive could come up with.

"Imaginative aren't they?" Mallory asked with a slightly amused smile.

"Hey!" the three retorted.

"Let me guess," Mallory continued, "_Phil_ picked it out?"

"Is it that obvious?" Agnus asked, cringing.

"Pretty much."

"He was being conservative with the skirt though," Duke said, checking out the length of the skirt which ended just at the end of Aggie's knees.

"Glad to hear," Agnus said.

"I… see you've changed footwear," Wildwing said, noticing the lack of inline-skates on Agnus' feet.

"Heh. Yeah. Inline skates don't exactly scream 'professional', now do they?"

Wildwing just shrugged.

"So, does it get the green light? Or should I just tell Uncle Phil I'll be working in my overalls no matter how sloppy they look?" Agnus asked.

"Eh, I'd say green light, Ags," Mallory replied with a smile.

"_Definitely_ green light," Duke replied still checking her out.

Agnus narrowed her eyes at Duke, but still wasn't able to stop herself from smiling at him before turning her attention to Nosedive and Wildwing.

"Wing, Dive, Grin, Tanya… green light?" she asked.

"Green light," the three fellas replied.

"Or _red_ if ya wanna stick with the hockey thing," Tanya said.

Agnus just chuckled at the quip.

"Thanks. Well, I best be off. Uncle Phil wants to give me a quick rundown on who's who and the like before we go to our first meeting," Agnus said, turning to leave.

"Oh! Hey! Aggie! Make sure we don't get set-up with any _ridiculous_ photo shoots! Please!" Tanya called after her.

"I'll try my best, Tanya."

Once Agnus was out of earshot, the Ducks turned back to each other.

"This may be the best idea Phil's ever had," Tanya said.

"No doubt. Bye-bye stupid stunts," Mallory added.

"Yeah. Perhaps now our dignity will stay in tact that much longer," Duke said before turning back to his coffee and magazine.

About mid-day, the burglar alarm at one of the city's toy stores was going crazy.

"All right. We get got it," Siege said, as he, Chameleon and Wraith walked out the back entrance of the store. Their arms were full of cans of silly string.

"You guys sure the boss is… okay in the head?" Chameleon asked, looking at the cans in his arms.

"Of course he is… I think."

At that moment a squeal of tyres brought the Saurians' attention to the fact that the Ducks had arrived.

"Hold it right there you Saurian Sleezeballs," Wildwing growled, as he and the other Ducks raced around the corner of the alley and towards the Saurians.

"As you wish," Chameleon replied, holding down the button on his transporter.

With that the three Saurians disappeared in a puff of sparkly green teleporter dust.

"This is getting monotonous," Wildwing said, not at all happy that the Saurians had escaped yet again.

"What on earth could they have wanted in a toy store?" Nosedive asked.

Duke walked up to the back door of the toy store and spotted a can on the floor where the Saurians had been standing moments before.

"Unless I'm mistaken," Duke started, picking up the can, "They were after… silly string."

"Silly string?!" the others asked in unison.

"Okay. Pause and _rewind_! What in the world could old Lizard-Lips want with _silly string_ and… _cosmetics_?" Nosedive asked.

"Eh, maybe he's throwing the worlds weirdest slumber party," Duke said, tossing the can of string up in the air and catching it again.

"Not quite his style, Duke. Tanya, could you run analyses on the products stolen by Draguanus and cross reference them to see if anything matches up?" Wildwing asked.

"Sure. I'll get on it as soon as we get back to the Pond," Tanya replied.

"Good. Let's head home team, nothing more for us to do here."

With that the Ducks turned and began to head back to the Migrator.

Later that evening, just before dinner, Agnus returned to the Pond looking pretty weary. She was just about to go into her room when…

"Aggie," Wildwing said, walking up to her.

"Oh. Hey, Wing," she replied with a smile.

"How was your first day at work?"

"Okay I suppose." Agnus pressed the button to open her room's doors and then walked in.

"Just okay?"

Aggie couldn't help but smile to herself, she somewhat adored Wildwing's concern for her.

"It was busy, Wildwing. That's all," she replied, turning to face him.

Wildwing just nodded understandingly.

"Where're the others?" Agnus asked, sitting down to take off her high heels.

"Kitchen last time I checked. Nosedive and Grin are trying a 'tag team' chef thing," Wildwing replied.

Aggie just looked up at the lead duck, not entirely sure what to make of the news.

"Grin should be able to keep Dive on the right line," Wildwing said reassuringly.

"If not, I've just memorised my uncle's whole list of fast food phone numbers. I can find you the best of anything the city has to offer."

"Why on earth did you do that?"

"We got stuck in traffic and I got bored."

Wildwing just smiled amusedly while raising an eyebrow disbelievingly at Agnus.

"Weird I know," Agnus replied, setting her high heels aside.

"No. Not 'weird', just… unique," Wildwing said with a kind smile.

Agnus looked at him slightly surprised by the response, but, at the same time, enchanted. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head before getting up from her chair.

"I guess you'll want to get changed," Wildwing said.

"Yeah. Comfortable these are not," Agnus replied, gesturing down at her 'work' clothes.

Wildwing just nodded and turned to take his leave, but stopped at the door.

"I'll meet you in the kitchen," he said over his shoulder.

"Sure," Agnus replied with a smile.

Wildwing smiled and nodded back before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

It wasn't much later that Agnus joined the Ducks in the kitchen.

"Ahh, our _favourite_ PA," Duke said with a smile, catching sight of Aggie as she walked in.

"Your favourite because you're _hoping_ I got you guys out of some _ridiculous_ PR stuff?" Aggie asked, coming to a stop next to Wildwing.

"Pretty much. Yeah."

Agnus chuckled and shook her head before saying, "At least you're honest."

"So?" Mallory asked.

"So?" Aggie asked back.

"While we saved the day what did you save us from, Girly-Girl?" Nosedive asked, while chopping some vegetables.

"Ah well…," Agnus started a little hesitantly, "You guys will be _glad_ to know that I kept Uncle Phil from signing you up for another candy add."

"Let me guess. Chocolate," Duke said.

"No I believe this was to be some liquid kind of sweet. Needless to say I don't think feathers and sticky go together too well."

"Ha! You're telling me," Mallory replied, remembering the vat of chocolate incident they had a while back.

"So, curl-tailed that one for ya as well as some crazy stunt Uncle was cooking up," Agnus said.

"Thank you. Last time he had a stunt set up for us it ended badly," Tanya said.

"What happened?"

"Nosedive and Duke wound up in the infirmary. Turned out that the ramp we were meant to go down wasn't as sound as Phil was lead to believe," Wildwing replied.

Agnus cringed before looking at the two mentioned Ducks.

"You guys are _gonna_ have ta tell me _everything_ Uncle Phil's done to you that _hasn't_ worked out. Health risks are not something we're keen on taking, particularly with the new season coming up. You lot are going to have to be in top condition and that means minimal sick leave. So please, for mine and Uncle Phil's sanity, _try_ not to get too banged up when you're out averting disaster at all hours of the day and night."

"You have our word," Wildwing said with a smile.

"Thank you," Agnus replied, smiling back at him.

"Anything _else_ you were able to steer your dear old uncle away from?" Duke asked.

Agnus looked at Duke for a moment, not sure how best to broach this particular thing with the Ducks.

"Aggie?" Wildwing asked, noticing her change in demeanour.

"Uh… I wasn't able to keep Uncle Phil from _everything_ I'm afraid, Guys," Agnus replied, feeling a bit nervous.

The Ducks just starred at her, this didn't bode well.

"Like what?" Grin asked, gently pushing the dish he and Nosedive had made into the oven.

"Uh… eh, look. I tried my best, but Uncle Phil pulled the old 'little children' card on me."

"Carry on," Duke said, getting suspicious.

Agnus took a deep breath in and let it out quickly before continuing, "He's arranged for you guys to be celebrity co-hosts of a children's birthday part."

The Ducks just stared at her in disbelief.

"Which," Agnus continued, "Is going to be held _here_. At the Pond."

The Ducks stared at her for a few moments more before…

"Phil's lost his mind," Duke said, turning to face the counter instead of Aggie.

"Oh, come on, Duke. It might not be _that_ bad," Wildwing said, standing up and putting a hand onto Agnus' shoulder.

"Ya seen what kids are like of late, Wildwing?" Duke asked.

"Yeah, but there are some nice ones amongst the rowdy crowd. Besides, we're only co-hosting. I'm guessing the children's' parents are going to be the main hosts."

"I guess so. I don't know all the details. All I know is the time, date, place and the fact that I'm expected to bake," Agnus replied.

"Bake?" Mallory asked.

"Yep."

"What exactly? Maybe I can help," Nosedive said with a smile.

"Thanks, Dive, but I think I can handle it. You'll be needed topside to help with decorating."

"Decorating?!" the Ducks asked in unison.

"Yeah. We're expected to decorate the rink and what not for the party. The new janitor's in charge of cleaning up though."

"Aren't you _glad_ you're a PA now?" Mallory asked with a smile.

"Oh yes," Agnus replied with a nod.

"And ya couldn't of gotten us outta dis one too?" Duke asked.

"Hey, I already steered ya clear of two major problems. Give me a break. It's my first day on the job."

"So?"

Aggie just narrowed her eyes at the ex-thief, but couldn't help smiling at him knowing that he was just joking with her.

Wildwing chuckled at the pair, putting both his hands onto Agnus' shoulders.

"You've done well, Ags," he said, "And don't feel bad about being pulled in with that 'little children' thing of Phil's. He's gotten me to agree to things like that too."

Agnus just looked back at Wildwing, rather surprised by the news.

"Seriously? Uncle Phil's pulled the 'little children' card on you?" she asked.

"Oh yes," Duke replied.

Agnus just nodded before saying, "Uncle Phil knows how to make low blows."

The Ducks chuckled at the comment.

"You can say that again," Tanya said.

At that moment the oven-timer 'tinged'.

"Dinner's ready," Nosedive said, slipping on a pair of oven mitts and heading over to the oven.

The other Ducks and Agnus waited almost anxiously, wondering if this would indeed be dinner or if they had another half-hour to forty minutes wait for a delivery guy to arrive.

Later that evening, after a surprisingly delicious dinner, most of the Ducks had gone out for the evening. Dive, Duke, Grin and Mallory had gone to some party that Thrash and Mookie knew of and Tanya had gone to visit her Doctor friend. So, again, Wildwing was left on his own. He walked quietly around the Pond, his footsteps echoing through the empty passageways. Just then he heard a noise coming from the rink. He picked up his pace and peaked around the corner leading to the stands. He let out a quiet gasp and smiled when he saw what was making the noise. Aggie was out on the ice. A pair of spare skates from the locker room was on her feet as she skated around in one small section of the ice. Wildwing came out from behind the wall and leant against it. His smile broadening as he watched her 'performance'. Even though the skates looked a bit big for her, Agnus managed to make her movements look almost effortless. It took all of Wildwing's self-control to keep himself from going down to her. This was a step in the right direction and he didn't want to hinder any progression by letting her know that he knew about her ice skating again. Just then, Wildwing heard voices. In particular, those of his fellow Ducks returning from their evening excursions. He quickly glanced down at Agnus and saw that she had stopped skating and was apparently listening. He ducked behind the wall as quickly as he could and, after a few moments, chanced a look back around the corner. Agnus had vanished from the rink.

"Hey Bro," Nosedive said, pulling Wildwing from his 'spying'.

"Hey," he replied, turning to face his team.

"What you lookin' at?"

"Nothing really. I was just taking a walk around the Pond."

The others looked at each other. None of them quite believing their leader's reply.

"How was your party?" Wildwing asked.

"Great!" Nosedive replied, apparently completely forgetting about Wildwing's unconvincing reply.

"It was okay," Duke replied.

"You're just saying that because no one agreed to dance with you… Old man," Mallory said with a cheeky smile, as she began to lead the way back to the Ducks' HQ.

Duke just narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his beak at the spunky young female duck.

Wildwing just smiled before looking over to Tanya and asking, "And how was Dr. Huggerman, Tanya?"

"Very well, thanks. I think he's starting to trust humanity again. Slowly though," Tanya replied.

Wildwing just nodded.

/That's not the only thing that's slowly on the mend,/ he thought, recalling what he had seen moments ago.

Now the question was how much longer until Aggie came out with why she didn't like hockey. Wildwing let out a sigh and resigned to the fact that only time would truly tell.


	11. Chapter 11

.Chapter eleven.

The day of the party that Phil had arranged was upon the Ducks. All six of them were busy hanging up streamers, balloons and the like all around the Pond. Wildwing had offered to stick up the directional arrows to show the kids where to go, as well as stick down the duck feet floor stickers that Phil had gotten from somewhere. Duke had commandeered the helium tank and had taken charge of filling up the balloons before Nosedive could get there. The last thing the eldest of the team wanted to deal with was an over-_grown_ kid messing around with the helium. Mallory and Grin were busy hanging streamers around the rink, while Tanya saw to the music system and lights. Phil had convinced the Ducks to put on a 'hockey practice to music' thing for the kids, which they had somewhat reluctantly agreed to. Duke had just filled up what he thought was his hundredth balloon when Wildwing appeared, sticking down the last of the feet.

"Hey, Wildwing," he called.

"Yeah?" Wildwing asked, looking up.

"You seen Nosedive? These balloons ain't gonna put _themselves_ into bunches."

"No. I haven't. I thought he was with you guys."

"And we thought he was with you," Mallory said, walking up to the two drakes with Grin and Tanya in tow.

"Then… where is he?" Wildwing asked.

Down in the Ducks' HQ, Agnus was busy in the kitchen cooking up a mini storm. She had just taken out a batch of cookies and was letting them cool on a cooling rack on the counter while she stuck another batch in. While her back was turned, the hand of one particular duck silently moved towards the cooling tray full of fresh hot cookies.

His fingers were mere millimetres from the pastry treat when… _WHACK_!

"Ow! Hey!" Nosedive cried, pulling his hand back and rubbing it caringly.

"Don't even think about it, Nosedive," Agnus said, shaking a wooden spoon at the young drake.

Nosedive pouted just as a hand was put onto his shoulder from behind.

"There you are," said Wildwing.

Nosedive just smiled up at his brother.

"Yeah. Here he is," Aggie replied with a smile, folding her arms across her chest with the wooden spoon still in her hand.

"Sorry if he's caused you any trouble, Aggie," Wildwing said, beginning to guide his baby brother out of the kitchen.

"No problem, Wing. At least not yet."

Wildwing just chuckled quietly to himself.

"Hey. You know me, Ags. Can't resist a sugary treat," Nosedive said with a shrug.

Aggie just smiled at the two.

"We'll leave you to it, Ags," Wildwing said, turning to leave.

"Thanks," Aggie said.

With that the two Ducks began to walk away.

"Wait," Agnus called from behind them.

The pair turned to find her walking up to them with something other than a wooden spoon in her hands.

"Don't tell the others," she said, pressing a cookie into each of their hands before turning and heading back to the kitchen.

Wildwing smiled fondly at her as she disappeared into the kitchen again.

"Coo-ella!" Nosedive said before stuffing the whole cookie into his mouth. "Mmm. Not bad," he said with his mouth still full of cookie, as he began to head for the elevator.

Wildwing just shook his head and smiled disbelievingly at his younger brother before following after him.

Five minutes to show time and the Ducks had put the final touches to the party area.

"Phew. Made it," Duke said, with a satisfied smile.

"Wow," a voice behind them said.

The Ducks turned to find Aggie skating up to them.

"You guys did an amazing job. Well done," she said with a smile.

"You _are_ going to be hanging around right?" Duke asked.

"Why do you ask?" Aggie asked with a smile.

"Let's just say… I'm not keen on being left alone with a bunch of human juveniles."

"You won't be alone though, Duke. You'll have the team with you."

"Doesn't count. I'd like to know that there is a knowledgeable, _mature_ _human_ about in case something happens."

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

Aggie couldn't help but giggle before looking at the other Ducks and saying, "He's been hearing horror stories hasn't he?"

"_We've_ been, yeah," Wildwing replied.

Aggie chuckled slightly before composing herself and continuing, "Don't worry. I _will_ be on scene. Uncle Phil asked me to be for… insurance or something."

Duke just nodded curtly, but appreciatively.

The party was going well. Agnus had kept off to the side, to keep out of the way of the kids, their parents and the celeb co-hosts. The Ducks had been tense about this at first, but soon got into the swing of things. Nosedive and Grin's relaxed approach to the situation had definitely helped the others slip into their new role. When the time came for the Ducks to perform their 'practice-to-music' routine, they had been pleasantly surprised to see how well behaved the kids were. The kids had filed into the stands without much fuss and then sat quietly waiting for the show to begin.

The music for the Ducks' routine was winding up and the Ducks all skated for the centre of the ice. Their sticks clacked against each other as they collide in the signature victory end-of-game team ritual.

"Ducks Rock!" the Ducks yelled together as the music ended.

The kids and their parents stood up and enthusiastically applauded the Ducks' performance, while the Ducks turned to face them and bowed.

Wildwing, still bent over in his bow, chanced a sideways glance at where he had last seen Agnus. He smiled to himself when he saw her clapping along with the others.

The Ducks straightened up again and began to head off the ice.

"That was amazing!" one of the boys said, as the Ducks came past him.

"Thanks, Kid," Duke said with a chuckle and a smile.

Just then Wildwing noticed the birthday girl, Tina, was staring off down at Agnus, who was currently writing something down on her clipboard.

"Something the matter, Tina?" he asked, walking up to her.

"Huh?! Oh, no, Wildwing, just…," Tina replied with a smile before looking back at Agnus.

"Just?" Wildwing pressed.

"Who's that?" Tina asked, pointing at Aggie.

"Oh! That's Aggie. Our manager's niece and PA. Why do you ask?"

"Is her surname 'Teak'?"

Wildwing looked surprised by the question, but then thought.

"I… don't know. Aggie's never told us what her last name is."

"Something up, Wildwing?" Duke asked, coming up behind his leader.

"Duke, has Aggie ever mentioned what her last name is to you?"

"No. Why?"

"Tina here would like to know."

"O-kay. Got a reason for that, Kid?" Duke asked, looking down at the little girl.

Tina quickly got down from her seat and raced over to where the party-goers had left their bags.

Duke and Wildwing looked at each other before following after her.

When they reached her, she had pulled out a magazine from her bag and was opening it.

"I've been reading about kids in hockey," Tina started, looking at the story in the magazine, "And… I came across this girl named Agnus Teak. She was a natural born hockey player. Her dad was a hockey player and her mom a figure skater. They say she could skate before she could walk."

"Okay, and… what makes you think that our Aggie is the Agnus you've read about?" Duke asked.

With that Tina turned the magazine around for the two drakes to see the photographs that accompanied the story. They gasped when they saw the pictures.

"May I?" Wildwing asked, reaching out for the magazine.

"Sure," Tina replied with a smile.

"Thanks."

Wildwing gently took the magazine from Tina and held it so that he and Duke could see the pictures better.

"It's Aggie! Just… a lot smaller," Duke said, looking at the photos and then at the young lady not too far away from them who was still writing stuff down on her clipboard.

"Or someone who looks a lot _like_ Aggie," Wildwing said, trying to keep Duke from jumping to conclusions.

"Agnus Teak of The Fantas-Teaks," Duke read from the magazine, "A natural born hockey player who promises to give most aspiring players, young or old, a run for their money."

"Coached by her parents," Wildwing continued to read, "Aggie combines the grace of figure skating with the speed and ferocity of professional ice hockey skating to form a unique and effective playing style. Though only nine years of age, she has mastered her dad's signature trick shot: The Home-Run."

"Oh hey! I read about that when I was at the library. It wasn't used often, only when the other team's defence was practically non-existent," Duke said.

Wildwing just nodded before looking down at Tina.

"There's only one way to really find out, Tina," he said with a smile, "We'll go ask her."

Tina just about grinned up at Wildwing, as he closed the magazine, being careful to keep a finger at the place where the story was, and held a hand out for Tina to take. She quickly took his hand and allowed him to lead her over to Agnus, who had finally finished writing on her clipboard.

"Aggie," he said.

"Yes?" she asked with a smile.

"This is Tina, the birthday girl we're holding this party for."

"Oh! It's nice to meet you, Tina. Is there something wrong?" Agnus asked, going down onto her haunches to talk to the girl eye-to-eye.

"Not in so many words, Ags," Duke replied.

"Then… what's up?" Agnus asked, looking up at Duke.

Wildwing paused before opening the magazine and holding down for Agnus to see. Her eyes widened when she saw the spread in the magazine.

"Do you know who this is?" Wildwing asked.

Agnus quickly stood up again, her eyes stuck on the magazine.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked, looking the lead Duck straight in the eye.

"Tina 'ere," Duke replied.

Agnus looked at the little girl.

"Is it you?" Tina asked, hopefully, "Are you… Agnus _Teak_ of the Fantas-Teaks?"

Agnus wasn't sure what to respond.

"It _is_ you!" Tina cried in delight.

Agnus let out a sigh of defeat, but then forced a smile.

"Yeah," she said, "It's me."

Tina just stared at Agnus in amazement.

"Is everything alright?" a lady asked from behind the group.

"Yeah. Everything's fine," Agnus replied with a smile.

"Mom! This is Agnus Teak! The girl from my magazine!" Tina chirped.

"Ag…," the lady, who was Tina's mom, started before looking at the lady before her, "Well, I'll be… it _is_ you! Ha!… It's an _honour_ to meet you, Miss Teak." Tina's mom held her hand out for Agnus to shake.

"Thanks," Aggie replied, her tone not exactly dripping with enthusiasm for the attention.

"Where have you been?! The last I heard of you was… back just after your family moved."

Agnus looked at Tina's mom somewhat surprised.

"You… don't know what happened?" she asked.

"No," Tina's mom replied, making a somewhat embarrassed face before continuing, "I was studying when your family moved and… couldn't keep up with the hockey news like I used to. Then, after that, I met my husband and…"

Agnus just smiled and nodded before saying, "And everything turned into a blur?"

"Something like that. I've only just gotten back into the hockey scene since my little girl got interested in it."

Agnus just smiled and nodded.

"So… what happened to you?" Tina's mom asked.

"I gave up after my dad gave up for… medical reasons," Agnus said, side glancing at the Ducks to her right.

"Oh! I'm sorry to hear that, but surely you could have continued once he got better."

"I'm afraid his condition was a permanent one… I don't like to talk about it."

"Okay. Sure. No problem."

Just then Agnus felt a tug on her jacket hem. Looking down she found Tina.

"Aggie, could… could you show us the Home-Run?" she asked.

"The Home-Run?" Agnus asked, beginning to feel a bit panicked. Just when she thought she was safe with Tina's mom not knowing her story.

"Yeah. You know. The trick shot you mastered when you were nine," Duke said, pointing to the magazine.

Aggie glared at Duke as subtly as she could, while Wildwing just nudged Duke with his elbow.

"Please!" Tina begged.

Aggie looked down at the child, she was torn between upholding her own personal vow never to get back on the ice for hockey and making this child happy.

"You _do_ know what your Uncle says about the fans right?" Duke asked quietly, coming up alongside Agnus and leaning closer to her.

"No fans. No team. I _know_," Aggie replied, getting the hint. Turning down a child who was a fan of the team could have disastrous consequences for the Mighty Ducks' team reputation.

Aggie sighed in defeat before replying, "Sure, Tina. I'll… I'll show you the Home-Run."

"Yes!" Tina cheered, jumping up.

"_But_ I haven't practiced it in a long time, so… it may be a little rusty."

"No problem. I'll go tell everyone."

With that Tina rushed off to tell her friends the news.

Aggie could feel a knot forming in her stomach. This was _not_ what she wanted to do at all. Suddenly, she was pulled from her thoughts by someone putting their hand onto her shoulder.

"Thank you so much. I can see you'd rather not, but…," Tina's mom started.

Agnus waved it off and, with a smile, replied, "It's not a problem."

Tina's mom smiled at her before taking her leave.

Agnus watched her until she felt another hand, larger and more masculine, be set on her opposite shoulder. Looking at the owner, she found Wildwing.

"Come on," he said with a gentle smile, "Let's get you kitted out."

Agnus just nodded before turning and allowing the lead Duck to lead her to the changing rooms.

Duke, meanwhile, couldn't help but smile to himself just as the other Ducks came up to him.

"What's this we hear about Aggie getting on the ice?" Mallory asked.

"To play _hockey_!" Nosedive added.

Duke chuckled before replying, "Tina's a fan of the Fantas-Teaks. Of which, _Aggie's_ a member of. Her dad was a hockey player and her mom a figure skater."

"Yeah, and?" Mallory asked.

"The Fantas-Teaks had a trick shot called the Home-Run. Tina wants to see it in action and… Aggie's obliging."

The Ducks just looked at Duke in amazement and then at Agnus and Wildwing as they disappeared into the changing rooms on the other side of the rink.


	12. Chapter 12

.Chapter twelve.

It wasn't much later that Agnus was kitted out and on the ice. Funny enough, she and Wildwing had found a set of clothing just her size folded up and waiting on the bench in the changing room. All the kids and their parents were seated in the stands, as were the Ducks. Agnus turned to face them.

"First, I'll show you the Home-Run without a goalie at the net. So you can see how it works in practice. _Then_, with the assistance of my good friend Wildwing, I'll show you how the Home-Run works in a game setting. Okay?" Agnus said.

"Yeah!" The kids replied in unison.

"Okay. Let's do this, Ags," Agnus said, more to herself than to her audience as she turned to skate towards the net.

"I can't believe she's actually on the ice," Mallory said with a smile.

"Heh. Yeah. I mean, she's been pretty adamant that she _didn't_ want to get back on, but now…," Tanya replied.

"Shh. I wanna see this," Nosedive said, leaning forward slightly to watch Aggie perform the Home-Run.

Agnus stopped just before the net, in the same position she would be in should she have a goalie in front of her. She glanced down at the puck which she was gently moving from side to side with her hockey stick. She sighed and then looked straight at the net, visualizing a goalie. She positioned the puck, pulled back her stick and then shot the puck off to the left of the net. It bounced off the boards.

"First base," Aggie called, watching the puck.

It hit the board behind the net.

"Second base," Aggie called again.

It hit the boards to the right of the net and came whizzing back towards Aggie.

"Third base," she called, readying herself before whacking the puck into the back of the net and calling out, "Home!"

The kids and their parents clapped enthusiastically, the Ducks clapped too, but weren't quite as impressed.

"Practical, no. Quirky, yes," Aggie said with a smile, turning to face the audience after retrieving her puck. "Wildwing, you want to come help me out here?"

"Coming," Wildwing replied, grabbing his hockey stick, which was propped up against his seat. He slipped his mask on as he hopped over the board onto the rink.

"My dad only ever really scored two goals using that trick," Aggie said quietly to Wildwing as he came up to her.

"Yeah. Duke mentioned that he'd read about it and that it was only ever used when the other team's defence was non-existent," Wildwing replied.

"Yeah. Those were the two shots my dad got."

Wildwing just smiled at her.

"Well, shall we do this?" Agnus asked.

"Let's," Wildwing replied, skating off towards the net.

Aggie smiled at him before turning to face the audience again.

"Don't expect this to get past Wildwing." Aggie paused, unsure if she should continue, "My… my dad only got two goals with this shot in his whole hockey career… and I scored once with it, but that was only because the goalie was young and inexperienced. He was distracted by my calling out the bases."

The audience chuckled.

"Right," Aggie said, more to herself, as she turned to face Wildwing who was now ready and waiting in the goal net.

She started to skate slowly towards Wildwing, gently making sure the puck stayed on course. Then she picked up speed. Wildwing braced himself. When Aggie was almost at her previous shooting spot, she sent the puck skittering off to the right of the net instead of the left.

"First base," Aggie and the audience said in unison.

Behind the net.

"Second base."

Left of the net and heading back to Aggie.

"Third base."

The puck came back to Aggie and then, as she was about to send the puck haphazardly towards Wildwing, she spotted an opening. Almost instinctively she changed her trajectory angle and made the shot. Wildwing moved to close the spot he thought Agnus was going for, the space between his arm and knee, but then was surprised when the puck soared straight over his shoulder instead. Only just though. Had he raised his hand instead he would have caught it and prevented…

"GOAL!" the audience, bar the other Ducks, cheered.

Agnus just looked stunned as the puck wobbled to a stand still, as did Wildwing, who had turned to see if the puck had really gone in, being careful not to knock it in should it have been outside the net.

"Okay. _That_ wasn't expected," Nosedive said.

"Wow. Nice one, Aggie," Wildwing said, skating up to the still stunned girl.

"Uh… how? Did you _let_ it through?" Aggie asked, looking up at the lead Duck.

Wildwing just smiled and shook his head.

"I zigged when I should have zagged. I'm impressed, Ags. You caught me snoozing," he said, patting her on the shoulder.

Aggie laughed slightly and shook her head.

"Lucky shot," she said.

"I don't think so," Wildwing replied before skating off towards the stands and the other Ducks.

Aggie watched him before looking back at the now still puck; she couldn't believe it. With that she began to skate back to the side of the rink to be met by the kids and their parents. The Ducks, meanwhile, were standing off to the side.

"That was awesome!" one little boy exclaimed.

Aggie just smiled at him.

"Do you do lessons?" a mom asked, taking Aggie by surprise.

"I'm afraid not," she replied.

"Oh. That's too bad."

"Sorry."

"You should really consider it though."

"I'll think about it."

"You really should," a voice said behind the crowd.

Everyone turned to see who the newcomer was.

"Uncle Phil?!" Aggie asked in surprise.

"Can I speak to you a moment, Ags?" Phil asked, hands in his pockets.

"Sure."

With that Aggie began to walk towards her Uncle.

"Uh, Phil…," Nosedive said.

Phil just nodded at the young drake before turning his attention back to his niece.

"Head on through to my office. I'll be there in a sec," he said with a gentle smile.

Aggie just nodded before continuing on her way, while Phil walked up to the Ducks.

"Don't worry. I'm not leaving you alone. I brought in some extra help," he said, nodding towards the rink.

The Ducks looked and were happily surprised to see Tatiana and Shiga standing there. The pair waved to them.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to speak with my niece," Phil said, turning and taking his leave.

As Phil disappeared around the corner, Tatiana approached the Ducks while Shiga…

"Okay. So, who's ready for cake?!" Shiga asked enthusiastically.

There was a cheer from the kids. Shiga just smiled at them and then began to lead them out.

"Did she say 'cake'?" Nosedive asked.

"You stay right where you are, Nosedive," Mallory said, warningly.

Tatiana couldn't help but giggle at Nosedive's apparent sweet tooth.

"I think it may be best if we do keep up with them," Tatiana said.

"Okay. Go on, Nosedive, we'll catch up with you," Wildwing said.

"Thanks, Big Bro," Nosedive replied, before disappearing after the group.

The Ducks couldn't help but shake their heads at Nosedive.

"Shall we?" Tatiana asked, gesturing for them to begin walking.

"I suppose so. Lead the way, Tatiana," Wildwing replied, gesturing for her to go first.

Tatiana just smiled and nodded before taking the lead.

Over in the Raptor, Chameleon, Wraith and Siege patiently await their leader's arrival and his next order.

"Anyone want to guess what the boss will have us swipe next?" Chameleon asked, breaking the silence.

"Something equally bizarre to his previous requests. I'm certain of it," Wraith replied.

"Hey! The only reason Dragaunus is doing this is to keep those pesky Ducks from figuring out what we're up to," Siege added, not liking how the others were almost disrespecting their leader.

"Oh! Has he revealed his plan for these eclectic ingredients to you?" Wraith asked.

"Uh… no."

"Mmhmm. I see."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The door hissed open and Dragaunus briskly walked through.

"Wraith, Siege. I need you two to intercept a goods transport truck. It will be at these coordinates in less than fifteen minutes. Go, set up an ambush and _take_ the whole load," Dragaunus said, his talking speed matching his walking speed as he pressed a button on the main computer's console.

"Yes sir," Siege replied quickly.

With that Wraith and Siege disappeared in a sparkly green cloud of teleportation energy, leaving Dragaunus and Chameleon in the Raptor.

"So… uh… how's about letting me in on the secret, Boss?" Chameleon asked cautiously.

"Not just yet," Dragaunus replied, turning to look at his little green henchman, "I have a _special_ mission for you."

Chameleon felt a knot form in his stomach. He hated it when Dragaunus looked at him like that.

Later that afternoon, back at the Pond, the Ducks, Tatiana and Shiga were saying goodbye to the kids and their parents.

"I hope you had a good time, Tina," Wildwing said, going down onto one knee to see the little girl eye-to-eye.

"Yeah. Thanks, Wildwing," Tina replied, giving the lead Duck a hug.

The others couldn't help but smile at the scene before them.

"Uh… do you think Aggie will come say goodbye?" Tina asked, releasing Wildwing from her grip.

"I don't know. It all depends on if she's still talking to her uncle," Wildwing replied.

"Oh… I see."

"I'm sorry, but…"

Just then Wildwing heard a familiar noise. Looking up, he found Agnus skating out from the front doors of the Pond. She had changed out of her hockey clothes and was in some of her casual attire.

"Aggie!" Tina exclaimed in delight.

"Hey," Agnus said with a smile.

"Uh… c-could you sign my magazine before we go?"

"Sure."

Tina grinned happily before dashing off to fetch her magazine and a pen.

Wildwing stood up, smiling at the young lady before him.

"Yes?" Agnus asked, sensing him looking at her.

"Sweet of you to sign Tina's magazine… considering you're not into hockey any more."

"Two little letters, Wildwing, 'P' 'R'."

Wildwing just smiled to himself, his gut feeling on the situation was that this wasn't just about public relations. At that moment Tina arrived back, magazine and pen in hand.

"What do you want me to write? Just my name or…," Agnus asked, going down onto one knee and laying the mag across her knee; she held the pen poised to write.

"Just 'Agnus Teak' please," Tina replied.

"Right."

With that Aggie signed the mag and handed it back to Tina.

Tina beamed as she looked at the signature and then looked up at Aggie saying, "I'll treasure this always."

Agnus just smiled and handed Tina back her pen.

"Means a lot to hear you say that, Tina," she said, standing up.

Tina smiled up at her heroine.

"Tina," her mom called from the car.

"Oh! Gotta go! See ya, Aggie!" Tina called over her shoulder as she ran to catch up with her mom.

"See ya, Tina," Aggie called after her.

Once Tina and her mom had left, the Ducks, Tatiana and Shiga gathered around Aggie.

"So…," Duke said, leaning on Aggie's shoulder.

"Yes?" Agnus asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You wanna fill us in on _anything_?"

"If you're referring to Uncle Phil, there are a couple of things."

"Like?" Tanya asked.

"Firstly… _he's_ the one who left that hockey kit in the changing rooms. I have this sneaking suspicion that he also _knew_ that Tina was a fan of mine."

"How could he have known?" Duke asked.

"I don't know, but… I'll find out one way… or another," Agnus replied, looking over at her two friends, who both put their hands up in front of their chests.

"Don't look at us," Shiga said.

"Yes. We know nothing about this," Tatiana added.

"R-igh-t," Agnus replied, not completely convinced.

"Anything else?" Wildwing asked.

"Yeah, he's informed me that he's arranged for you guys to be guests of honour at the upcoming Superhero Festival," Agnus replied.

"Superhero Festival?" the Ducks asked in unison.

"Yeah," Shiga replied, moving with Tatiana to stand by Agnus, "It's sponsored by the mall and hosted by Captain Comics."

"Thrash and Mook haven't ever mentioned it to me," Nosedive said.

"Probably just slipped their minds," Tatiana replied.

"Anyway," Aggie said, gaining the group's attention, "Uncle Phil's made the arrangements, but, don't worry, you don't have to wear costumes."

With that Agnus began to skate off in the general direction of the mall.

"Costumes?" Duke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Shiga replied with a smile.

"Everyone who attends generally wears a costume," Tatiana added.

The Ducks just nodded, unsure of what to make of this newest predicament they had gotten themselves into.

"Um… where are you headed, Aggie?" Wildwing asked, noticing Aggie turning back to continue on her way to the mall, seeing as Shiga and Tatiana had things under control.

"I'm just heading through to the mall," Aggie replied, spinning around to face the group again, "Uncle Phil wants me to pick up a bag of hockey pucks for him."

"Hockey pucks?" the Ducks asked in unison.

"Yeah. Get your writing hands warmed up, guys; you'll be autographing them all," Aggie replied, slowly turning to continue on her way.

There was a groan from a majority of the Ducks' team, except Wildwing.

"Mind if I come with you?" he asked.

Aggie looked at him a little surprised, but then smiled and nodded.

"Sure," she replied.

Wildwing smiled before pressing a button on his COM to activate his inline skates.

"I'll see you guys later," he said to his team before turning his attention to Shiga and Tatiana, "Thanks for your help, girls, we couldn't have done it without you."

With that he began to skate off after Agnus.

"No problem, Wildwing," Shiga replied with a smile, watching the lead drake go.

"It was our pleasure," Tatiana added.

Wildwing smiled back at them once more before focusing his attention on Aggie and their current task.

The remaining group couldn't help but smile at the pair as they watched them go.

"It's good to see Aggie being friendly again," Tatiana said.

"No doubt," Shiga added.

"You mean… we're starting to see some of the _real_ Agnus Teak?" Duke asked.

"Oh yeah," Shiga replied with a smile.

"And I think we have you Ducks to thank. Thank you, each and every one of you," Tatiana said with a smile, looking at the group of Ducks.

"No sweat," Nosedive replied with a smile.

"From what we've been hearing from Phil, you and Wildwing are doing the most work, Duke," Shiga said.

"I've been tryin', but… Ags doesn't trust me too much any more. Sure she's friendly and all, but… I can see she more comfortable around the others," Duke replied.

"We heard about that too," Shiga said, "But it's good that you don't give up."

Duke just smiled at the more spunky of the two girls; they were just as nice as Agnus and it was a pity that they didn't get to spend more time with them.

Just then Grin sensed something, he looked back over his shoulder, but saw nothing but a group of trashcans. He glared at them for a moment, but left it at that.

"Well, nothing more for us to do out 'ere," Duke said.

"Yeah. We had better get going too. It was great seeing you guys again," Shiga said, holding a hand out for the Ducks to shake in turn.

"It was great seeing you girls again too," Nosedive said, shaking Shiga's hand.

"We'll have to see if we can do it again some time," Tatiana said, shaking Grin's hand.

"Yeah, but… can we _minus_ the children's birthday party?" Mallory asked, shaking Tatiana's hand as soon as Grin had released it.

"Sure," the two girls replied in unison with a slight giggle in their voices.

"See ya," they said together, as they took their leave of the Ducks, having shaken each of their hands.

"See ya," the Ducks replied, waving goodbye to their friends.

"Let's head in," Duke said once Tatiana and Shiga had crossed the road.

The other Ducks nodded in agreement before following Duke's lead back into the Pond.

Meanwhile, by the trashcans Grin had been checking earlier, Chameleon peaked over to see what was going on.

"A Superhero Festival huh? Perfect," he said with a wicked smile, while his twisted mind began to come up with a scheme to get what Dragaunus had sent him out to fetch.


	13. Chapter 13

.Chapter thirteen.

At one of the local sports shops in the mall, Wildwing waited patiently next to Agnus while they waited for the clerk to find the bag that Phil had ordered. Eventually he returned with the bag, which looked more like a large sack.

"Here ya go," he said, straining to lift the sack onto the counter.

Wildwing reached forward to help him lift it up.

"Whoa," was all Aggie could say.

"Phew! You're telling me. Thank you, Wildwing," the clerk said with a smile.

"You're welcome," Wildwing replied with a smile.

"Thanks. Has Phil settled the account?" Agnus asked.

"Yep," the clerk replied, "He said he'd be sending someone to pick it up and I guess that's you two."

"Yeah. That's us. Now… uh…" Aggie looked at the sack, trying to figure out the best way to carry it back to the Pond.

"Don't worry," Wildwing said, noticing Aggie's ponderous expression, "I got it."

"Thanks, Wildwing," Aggie replied, moving aside to allow him to pick it up.

Once out of the sports shop and on their way back to the Pond, Aggie spoke up again.

"I'm glad you came with me, Wildwing. I'd never have been able to carry this thing back on my own," she said.

Wildwing smiled at her before replying, "It's not a problem, Ags."

Aggie just smiled at him again before turning her attention to the sidewalk in front of her.

"Knowing you though," Wildwing started, "You'd have _tried_ to bring it back without assistance."

Aggie couldn't help but smile and nod before replying with a slight giggle, "Yeah and given myself a hernia in the process."

Wildwing chuckled quietly at the comment.

"But," Aggie continued, "That's just me. Stubborn as a mule."

"You're getting more lenient. Allowing me and the others to help you where we can," Wildwing said.

Aggie just smiled up at him. It was true. Spending time with the Ducks had changed her a little bit; softened her to be more like she was before her life changed.

Meanwhile, back at the Pond, the other Ducks were crowded around Drake-1. The computer had picked up a teleportation signal.

"So where is it?" Duke asked, taking command seeing as Wildwing was out.

"It's out in the desert," Tanya replied, tapping away at Drake-1's keyboard.

"Okay. Let's move out, Ducks!"

"Wait! Shouldn't we call Wildwing?" Nosedive asked.

"No time. Let's go!" Duke replied, taking the lead and running off for the Aerowing's hangar.

In no time the Ducks arrived at the sight of the teleportation, but found nothing except a stopped truck and it's distraught driver.

"'Moody's Mood Rings'?" Duke said, looking at the side of the truck as the team walked around to the back to meet with the driver.

"Sir," Mallory said, gaining the driver's attention, "Mallory McMallard. What happened here?"  
"What's it look like?! Some big lizards stole my shipment!" the man replied, gesturing into the empty interior of his truck.

"What was taken?" Duke asked.

"What? You can't read?! Mood rings. Seventy _cases_ of _mood rings_!"

The Ducks looked surprised by the news.

"Mood rings?" Duke asked.

"What would ol' Lizard Lips want with mood rings?" Nosedive asked.

The others looked to Duke for an answer.

When he realised they were looking at him he replied, "Hey! I may be an ex-jewel thief, but mood rings aren't my thing. Give me something _valuable_ and we'll talk."

"So you have no idea what they could be doing with them?" Mallory asked.

"Notta," Duke replied, "Let's get back to the Pond. Maybe with Drake-1's help we can fathom out what Dragaunus is up to."

With that the team quickly made their way back to the Aerowing.

Meanwhile, back at the Pond, Wildwing and Agnus were having a talk with Phil.

"And you couldn't have just paid the extra for a delivery?" Agnus asked.

"Come on, Aggie. You're a strong girl; I knew you could handle it," Phil replied with a smile.

Aggie sighed, but, before either her or Wildwing could say anything more, the sound of the Aerowing coming in to land interrupted them.

"The Aerowing?" Wildwing asked.

"Yeah, the guys took off in it a little while ago," Phil replied.

"And you didn't think we'd need to know?" Agnus asked.

"No. They could have just been going for a joyride."

Agnus just rolled her eyes at her uncle.

"Let's go check it out," Wildwing said, putting a hand onto Aggie's shoulder.

"Yeah let's," Aggie replied.

With that the pair began to head for the Ducks' secret headquarters under the Pond.

Phil breathed a sigh of relief once they were out, but quickly snapped back to 'attention' when Aggie stuck her head back into his office.

"Don't think this is over, Uncle Phil," she said warningly before disappearing out again.

In the command room, Wildwing and Aggie found the others gathered around Drake-1 with Tanya tapping away furiously.

"What's up?" Wildwing asked, skating up to his team mates with Aggie next to him.

"Dragaunus' goons just picked up a shipment of mood rings," Duke explained, stroking his chin while he watched the computer screen intently.

Wildwing and Aggie just gaped at Duke before asking in unison, "Mood rings?"

"Yep."

"What in the world is Dragaunus up to?" Wildwing asked, trying to piece together all of Dragaunus' crimes over the past while.

"Isn't Dragaunus supposed to be, like, oh… I don't know, seriously evil or something?" Agnus asked.

"Yes, which is why these apparently 'random' crimes have us so worried," Wildwing replied.

"Maybe he's snapped."

The Ducks looked at Aggie for a further explanation.

"You know, the stress of fighting you guys and never winning. Maybe it finally got to him and his brain's just snapped," Aggie explained.

"I don't think so. Dragaunus isn't the kind to crack under pressure," Wildwing replied.

"Chameleon, yes," Duke added with a smile.

"Maybe even Wraith or Siege, but _not_ Dragaunus," Mallory added.

"Okay. So… ideas?" Aggie asked.

The Ducks just shrugged.

"Great," Aggie said.

"I've got Drake-1 running a series of 'scans' on the items stolen by Dragaunus to see if any of the materials in them could be used for something not stated on the label," Tanya said.

Aggie just nodded and looked up at the oversized computer.

"Let's hope it comes up with something… soon. For your sanity's sake if nothing else," Aggie said, looking from the computer to the Ducks.

The Ducks just nodded in agreement, their eyes also on the screen.

"Uh… say, Wildwing, what's in the sack?" Nosedive asked, having finally noticed the sack leaning against Wildwing's leg.

"Oh! It's those pucks that Phil sent Aggie to fetch," Wildwing replied, nonchalantly, looking down at the sack.

"What?!" the others asked in horrified unison.

"Yeah. Sorry, guys, I didn't realize it was going to be so big," Aggie replied.

The Ducks just groaned.

"How many do we have ta sign?" Duke asked, rubbing either side of his forehead with his thumb and middle-finger as if he had a headache.

"I don't know," Aggie replied, trying to pick the sack up, but Wildwing quickly intercepted and hauled it up onto his shoulder.

"Where do you want it?" he asked with a semi-amused smile.

"The living room if you don't mind, Wildwing," Aggie replied, matching his tone.

Wildwing just smiled at her before heading off for the indicated room, leaving Aggie shaking her head at him and chuckling quietly to herself, while the other Ducks just looked from their leader to their human housemate and back again.

"What?" Aggie asked, noticing their looks.

"There something you and my bro want to tell us, Aggie?" Nosedive asked.

"Of course not. Wildwing's just being a gentleman… gentle-duck… whatever. Anyway, I think I had better get to work. Those pucks aren't going to count themselves."

With that Agnus began to follow after Wildwing, while the Ducks just smiled to themselves as they watched her leave.

"A Duck and a human?" Mallory asked.

"Could it work?" Tanya asked.

"Stranger things have happened," Grin said with a smile.

Meanwhile, back at the Raptor, Dragaunus was more than pleased with his henchmen's work.

"Perfect. For _once_ you _bunglers_ have performed a task satisfactorily," he said, holding one of the rings up to view it.

"Piece of cake," Siege replied.

"What, may I ask, do you need these human trinkets for, Sire?" Wraith asked.

"They are one of the last ingredients in my plan, Wraith. I want you and Siege to remove the glass and liquid crystal from each of these; set them aside as I will still need them," Dragaunus replied, tossing the ring in Wraith's direction.

Wraith caught the tiny silver-coloured ring and then looked at the crates they had brought back from the van.

"There's got to be _thousands_ of 'em," Siege said, also looking at the crates.

"Then I suggest you get started. Chameleon should be returning soon with the _final_ ingredient," Dragaunus replied cryptically before taking his leave of his lackeys.

Later that evening, the Ducks were looking forward to relaxing in the rec-room, but, when they entered, their plans took a drastic change of direction.

"What in the… _world_?!" Duke asked, looking at the strange white sight in front of him.

"It's invasion of the albino _pucks_!" Tanya exclaimed.

"Oh! You're back. Good," Agnus said, coming out from around a corner.

"Aggie, what's with the…," Wildwing started, turning to face the young lady.

"Apparently these were specially ordered by Uncle Phil. I had a word with him about them and he explained it was to make autographing them easier… or so he says. Well, here ya go." Aggie fanned out six pens; three teal and three purple. "Pick a colour."

"How many do we have to sign?" Duke asked, looking at the green pen in his hand.

"Five hundred."

"Five hundred?!" the Ducks asked in unison.

"There's no _way_ that bag coulda held three thousand pucks!" Duke exclaimed.

"No. There's just five hundred, but each of you has to sign each puck," Aggie explained calmly.

The Ducks just looked at the piles of Pucks. It was going to be a long night.

"Well, I guess the sooner we get started the sooner we finish," Wildwing said, taking the lead.

The other Ducks just muttered and grumbled behind them.

Agnus just smiled at them sympathetically before turning to leave.

"I'll be back in a little while to check that you're all okay," she said.

There were varying replies of 'yeah thanks' or 'whatever' except from Wildwing.

"Thanks, Aggie," he said with a smile.

"You're welcome, Wildwing," she replied, looking back at him over her shoulder.

The pair smiled at each other once more before Agnus took her leave.

"You sure there's nothing going on between you and Ags, Bro?" Nosedive asked.

"I'm sure, Nosedive. Now, should we get on with this?" Wildwing said, taking a seat.

Mumbles and grumbles were all he got in response besides a few 'yeah, guess so's.

Meanwhile, over in the Raptor, Chameleon was running for his life.

"You little _idiot_!" Dragaunus exclaimed, throwing a sizeable chuck of debris at Chameleon.

"But, Boss, if you'd just let me explain!" Chameleon pleaded, while dodging his employer's varied ammunition.

At that moment Dragaunus grabbed hold of the Chameleon's neck and pulled him up to his eye level.

"Explain _what_?!" Dragaunus asked, looking as if he'd fry the Chameleon if he didn't like what he heard come out of his mouth.

"The-Ducks-will-be-at-an-event-soon-which-will-all ow-me-to-easily-get-close-to-'em-an'-get-you-the-f eathers-you-need!" Chameleon replied quickly.

Dragaunus pulled back from Chameleon, still eyeing him suspiciously.

"Dere was no way I could get close to 'em today; besides, Wildwing left with their new female human friend so I'd have been a feather short," Chameleon continued, at a calmer speed.

A growl rumbled deep in Dragaunus' throat, but then he said, "Very well. Chameleon, but you had _better_ get me those _feathers_ then. Is that clear?"

Dragaunus dropped Chameleon and began to take his leave.

"Oh. Oh! Yes. C-crystal clear," Chameleon replied, relieved to be off the hook for now.


End file.
